Standard Life to further divest stake in HDFC Life

UK’S Standard Life is planning to divest up to 4.5 per cent stake in HDFC Life Insurance. According to terms of a detail obtained by Bloomberg, the shares will be offered in the range between ~562 and ~575.

Shares of HDFC Life closed 1.6 per cent lower at ~610.4 on the BSE, even as the Sensex rose 1.5 per cent.

The share sale is worth $600 million with an option to sell an additional $200 million. Standard Life could raise between ~4,200 crore and ~5,600 crore through the share sale. Bank of America Merrill Lynch is managing the share sale.

At the end of the June quarter, Standard Life (Mauritius Holdings) 2006 held 23.02 per cent stake in HDFC

Life, shareholding data on the BSE shows. Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC) and Standard Life are the joint venture partner in HDFC

Life Insurance, with the former holding 24.69 per cent stake.

In August, Standard Life had sold 3.2 per cent in HDFC Life via a block deal. Prior to that, Standard Life had sold 1.78 per cent stake for approximately ~1,400 crore. In March, it had divested 4.93 per cent stake in the life insurer to raise about ~3,600 crore.

From October lows of ~575, shares of HDFC Life had gained as much as 8 per cent amid strong buying in shares of private insurers.

HDFC Life posted 7.5 per cent rise in standalone net profit to ~308.69 crore for the second quarter ended September 30. The company's net profit in the year-ago period stood at ~286.98 crore.

Total income of the insurance firm rose to ~8,661.56 crore, from ~7,902.10 in the same quarter a year ago, HDFC Life said. The assets under management of the insurance firm rose to ~1.3 trillion.

Standard Life could raise between ~4,200 crore and ~5,600 crore through the share sale