Three private equity funds - Warburg Pincus, Carlyle and Temasek - have been shortlisted to acquire a 35 percent stake in ICICI Lombard General Insurance, according to a report in The Economic Times. The three PE funds were selected from four potential investors who had bid for a stake which could be worth close to USD 1 billion.
Others who had earlier bid for the stake include Blackstone, KKR, Advent and General Atlantic.
The shortlisted funds will now conduct a round of due diligence before they give their final binding offer before April end.
The country's largest private sector insurer, ICICI Lombard is a joint venture between ICICI Bank and Prem Watsa's Fairfax Financial Holdings.
Earlier this year, Fairfax decided on selling 25 percent of its 34.6 percent stake in the JV citing regulatory reasons. A reduction in its stake will allow it to tie up for another joint venture in the country.
Foreign investors are not allowed to own more than 10 percent in an insurance company as a financial stakeholder.
Fairfax has submitted an application to form another joint venture in general insurance with Kamlesh Goyal, who earlier was an executive with Allianz.
In 2015, Fairfax had bought an additional stake of 9 percent in the JV for USD 237 million, valuing the company at USD 2.5 billion. Industry experts feel this stake sale by Fairfax may improve the general insurance player's valuation to around 3-3.2 billion.
Discover the latest Business News, Sensex, and Nifty updates. Obtain Personal Finance insights, tax queries, and expert opinions on Moneycontrol or download the Moneycontrol App to stay updated!
Find the best of Al News in one place, specially curated for you every weekend.
Stay on top of the latest tech trends and biggest startup news.
