The Oman Investment Fund has become a foreign strategic partner of PetroVietnam Insurance Co (PVI).

The fund’s subsidiary Funderburk Lighthouse Ltd has acquired over 20 million shares in PVI, worth a total of 808.3 billion VND (42.3 million USD) and representing approximately 12.6 percent of the insurance company’s equity.

The acquisition was part of an issue of over 56.4 million additional share by the PVI, over 36.2 million shares of which were offered to existing shareholders at a ratio of 20:7.

The Oman Investment Fund, established in 2006, is the sovereign wealth fund of Oman and invests globally in a diversified portfolio including private equity, finance services, real estate and other strategic projects.

“The strategic partnership with the fund, owned by a country hat promotes petroleum exploration such as Oman , will enable the PVI to extend its reach,” said PVI’s director of planning and business development Do Tan Binh.

Thee two partners would have many opportunities for future cooperation, Binh said, revealing that the PVI plans to establish a life insurance company in the near future.

The PVI currently dominates the domestic market in energy and marine insurance. It is also the second largest Vietnamese non-life insurance company in terms of direct premiums, with a market share of over 20 percent.

Last week, the insurance company also signed a memorandum of understanding with the Vietnam-Russia joint venture Vietsovpetro to provide insurance for Vietsovpetro assets worth up to 6 billion USD, with the potential to add another 4 billion USD on new Vietsovpetro project.

The PVI posted a profit of 220 billion VND (11.6 million USD) in 2009, an increase of 28.13 percent over the previous year, and projects a profit this year of 330 billion VND (17.4 million USD). It also plans to increase its charter capital this year from around 1 trillion VND (52.6 million USD) to 1.6 trillion VND (84.2 million USD)/.