Some of The Major Deals in The Indian Insurance Sector

India’s insurance sector is fast growing with several major deals. Some of the major ones are:

• Max Life Insurance Co Ltd and HDFC Life Insurance Co Ltd have signed a merger agreement, which is expected to create India's largest private sector life insurance company once the transaction is completed.

• Lloyd’s, a UK-based reinsurer, plans to make its entry in Indian markets by early 2017, after receiving the approval from Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) to operate in India through its market model wherein a set of members collectively come together to underwrite and provide reinsurance.

• The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) plans to issue redesigned initial public offering (IPO) guidelines for insurance companies in India, which are to looking to divest equity through the IPO route.

• Aviva Plc, the UK-based Insurance company, has acquired an additional 23 percent stake in Aviva Life Insurance Company India from the joint venture (JV) partner Dabur Invest Corporation for Rs 940 crore ($141.3 million), thereby increasing their stake to 49 per cent in the company.

• QuEST Global, a pure-play engineering and Research and Development (R&D) services provider, has raised investment of around Rs 2,396 crore ($351.54 million) from leading global investors Bain Capital, GIC and Advent International for a minority stake in the company.

• Insurance firm AIA Group Ltd has decided to increase its stake in Tata AIA Life Insurance Co Ltd, a joint venture owned by Tata Sons Ltd and AIA Group from 26 per cent to 49 per cent.

• Canada-based Sun Life Financial Inc plans to increase its stake from 26 percent to 49 percent in Birla Sun Life Insurance Co Ltd, a joint venture with Aditya Birla Nuvo Ltd, through buying of shares worth Rs 1,664 crore ($244.14 million).

• Nippon Life Insurance, Japan’s second largest life insurance company, has signed definitive agreements to invest Rs 2,265 crore ($332.32 million) in order to increase its stake in Reliance Life Insurance from 26 per cent to 49 per cent.

• Bennett Coleman and Co. Ltd (BCCL), the media conglomerate with multiple publications in several languages across India, is set to buy Religare Enterprises Ltd’s 44 per cent stake in life insurance joint venture Aegon Religare Life Insurance Co. Ltd. The foreign partner Aegon is set to increase its stake in the joint venture from 26 percent to 49 percent.

• General Insurance Corp Re and 11 other non-life insurers have jointly formed the India Nuclear Insurance Pool with a capacity of Rs 1,500 crore ($220.08 million) and will provide the risk transfer mechanism to the operators and suppliers under the CLND Act.

• State Bank of India has announced that BNP Paribas Cardif is keen to increase its stake in SBI Life Insurance from 26 percent to 36 percent. Once the foreign joint venture partner increases its stake to 36 per cent, SBI’s stake in SBI Life will get diluted to 64 percent.