Max Financial Services gets Irdai nod to acquire residual stake in Max Life

Max Financial Services, the promoter of insurer Max Life Insurance, has received the insurance regulator’s (Irdai) approval to purchase the remaining stake of 5.17 per cent in the life insurance company held by Mitsui Sumitomo Company Limited (MSI).

This transaction is expected to be completed in the next fortnight, the company said in a statement on Monday.

This transaction entails purchase of 99.1 million shares of Max Life at Rs 85 per share by Max Financial Services as per the put/call option approved by the company’s board on March 3, 2020. ­

“The transaction will make the holding company structure simpler and help consolidate our shareholding in Max Life which will benefit all our shareholders by attracting more investor interest,” said Analjit Singh, chairman, Max group.

Max Financial Services held 72.52 per cent stake in Max Life Insurance while MSI had 25.48 per cent stake. After executing the share swap agreement, which entailed Max Financial Services swapping 20.57 per cent stake of Max Life held by MSI for 21.87 per cent of its own stake, subsequently MSI bought 0.26 per cent stake in the life insurance company from Axis Bank and was holding 5.17 per cent stake in Max Life.

Post acquiring the 5.17 per cent stake from MSI, Max Financial Services’ stake in the life insurance company will be 87 per cent, with the rest held by Axis Bank, India’s third-largest private sector bank.