Sunday, June 10, 2007

Reliance Capital may sell minority stake

Anil Ambani has been on a buying spree all these months picking up stakes in diverse companies through his financial services arm Reliance Capital.But now it seems he is looking for a buyer who will acquire minority stake in his insurance ventures. And foreign players waiting for a foothold in India are queuing up for a piece of the action.

NDTV has learned that ADAG group company Reliance Capital is planning to rope in a partner for the insurance business. The group is likely to sell 26 per cent each in its life and non-life insurance businesses.

Reliance's insurance businesses are valued at around $1.2-1.75 billion and contribute about 25-30 per cent of the price of the Reliance Capital share. Reliance ranks second in general insurance and fifth in life insurance among the private players.For private insurance players like Reliance it is now the investment stage where they have to pump in money to build their distribution network and also meet regulatory requirements.It will take a while for many of them to break even in the life insurance segment though ADAG group is not short of cash it may want to realise value when the going is good and when other players like ICICI Prudential and SBI Life are also looking at diluting the group holdings.

(Source: NDTV profit)

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