PPF files claim against Russia's Ingosstrakh

...it would fight a move to slash its stake in the firm "by every legal means".

PPF, whose investors include Petr Kellner, the richest Czech businessman, told Reuters late on Tuesday that it had filed a complaint with Russia's markets regulator against Ingosstrakh, which is controlled by one of Russia's richest men, Oleg Deripaska, and his Basic Element holding company.

A spokeswoman for the regulator, the Federal Financial Markets Service, confirmed that on Wednesday.

PPF is claiming that Ingosstrakh's shareholders illegally decided to quadruple the company's authorised capital to 10 billion roubles ($403.2 million) on Oct. 8 at a meeting where PPF's votes were ignored.

If the decision is carried out, PPF's stake in Ingosstrakh would be diluted from 38.5 percent to around 10 percent.

"If the officially and clearly expressed rejections (of PPF) against the proposal to increase Ingosstrakh's registered capital (had) been properly counted in, the proposal could have never been approved," said PPF spokesman Jan Piskacek.

In order to maintain their current stakes in Ingosstrakh, all shareholders would have to quadruple their investment in the company, which PPF is not prepared to do, Piskacek said.

Earlier this week, Ingosstrakh chairman Vyacheslav Shcherbakov denied PPF's claim.

"The (shareholders') meeting happened without breaking the law, and all shareholders were given the chance to participate," he told Reuters in an interview on Monday.

Sergei Rybak, a spokesman for Basic Element, which owns 50 percent of Ingosstrakh, added on Tuesday that PPF had only admitted to owning its 38.5 percent stake in the company last week, well after the meeting where the vote took place.

Although Pikacek confirmed this, he noted that PPF owned its stake through three investment vehicles -- Vega, Noviy Kapital and Investitsionnaya Initsyativa -- which are all on the shareholders' register and should have been allowed to vote.

"We will defend our investment by every legal means," he said.

Italian insurer Generali is in talks with PPF Investments to buy an indirect stake in Ingosstrakh.

PPF Investments is run separately from PPF Group, Kellner's insurance and consumer finance business. ($1=24.80 Rouble)

Keywords: RUSSIA INGOSSTRAKH/PPF

[LONDON/Reuters/Finance.cz]