Tata AIG, ICICI Lombard join race to buy insurance units of Reliance Cap

Parties can either bid to buy the entire company or any one or more of its eight clusters.

Tata AIG, ICICI Lombard and Nippon Life are among 54 prominent Indian and foreign financial companies joining the race for the profit-making insurance arms of Reliance Capital, which was last year put under administration due to defaults and governance issues.

The last day to submit expression of interest (EOI) was extended by two weeks to March 25 to give access to the latest information before they make financial bids.

HDFC Ergo, Bandhan Financial Holdings, Cholamandam Investment, Adani Finserv, Yes Bank, OakTree Capital, Blackstone, New Quest, Indusind International, Brookfield, TPG, Zurich Insurance Group, Ares SSG Capital, ArpWood Partners, Capri Global Holdings, Edelweiss Alternative, International Asset Reconstruction Company, JC Flower, Motilal Oswal Financial Services, Square Four Housing, UV Multiple Asset Investment are among 54 companies to have submitted their EOI.

The earlier date to submit the EOI was March 11 but it was extended following request by some prospective bidders. According to the sources, the vast majority of the bidders who have submitted EOIs bid for the entire company. Others have bid for one or more subsidiaries of Reliance Capital.

Companies have two options: they can either bid for the entire Reliance Capital or any one or more of its eight clusters (subsidiaries of Reliance Capital).

Reliance Capital subsidiaries include Reliance General Insurance, Reliance Nippon Life Insurance, Reliance Securities, Reliance Asset Reconstruction Company, Reliance Home Finance and Reliance Commercial Finance.

Last November, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) superseded the board of Reliance Capital and appointed Nageswara Rao Y as the company’s administrator.

RBI subsequently filed an application for initiation of corporate insolvency resolution process against the company at the Mumbai bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT).

In February this year, the RBI appointed administrator invited EOI for sale of Reliance Capital. The financial bids are expected by May.