UK’s Standard Life has launched a fresh $260-million block deal, the second in a single day, to sell around 2 percent stake in HDFC Life Insurance. The offer price range of the stake sale is between Rs 490 a share and Rs 501 a share and the block trades will be executed tomorrow on 4th of June. Bofa Securities is the sole advisor to Standard Life on the deal. Earlier in the day, in a separate block deal, Standard Life sold 1.3 percent stake in HDFC Life Insurance.
What this means
As of March 31, 2020, Standard Life, which falls in the promoter category held 12.25 percent stake in HDFC Life. HDFC holds 51.44 percent in the insurer. The UK-based firm has been consistently trimming its stake in the Indian insurer through a series of back to back transactions. In October, Standard Life sold 4.96 per cent in HDFC Life Insurance to a clutch of institutional investors at Rs 575.15 a piece to mop up Rs 5,750 crore. In August, the firm sold 3.2 per cent in HDFC Life via block deals. Before that, it had sold 1.78 per cent stake for Rs 1,400 crore. In March, it divested 4.93 per cent stake in the life insurer to raise about Rs 3,600 crore.
