HDFC Life Insurance gains 4% after huge block deals

Shares of HDFC Life Insurance moved higher by 4 per cent to Rs 520, bouncing back 6 per cent from its intraday low on the BSE on Wednesday after more than 1 per cent equity of the life insurer changed hands via block deals.

At 09:40 am, around 26.2 million equity shares, representing 1.3 per cent of total equity of HDFC Life Insurance, changed hands through block deals on the BSE, the exchange data shows. The name of buyers and sellers were not ascertained immediately.

In March 27, 2020, UK's Standard Life, one of the promoters of the company, had sold 50 million shares, or 2.5 per cent ownership, in HDFC Life Insurance for Rs 2,200 crore through open market transactions. Shares were sold at Rs 441 per share on the BSE.

As of March 31, 2020, Standard Life held 247.3 million or 12.25 per cent stake in HDFC Life, the shareholding pattern data shows.

At 09:56 am, the stock was trading 2.5 per cent higher at Rs 512, against 0.87 per cent rise in the S&P BSE Sensex. It opened at Rs 500 and hit a low of Rs 490 so far.

For the quarter ended March 2020, HDFC Life Insurance reported a 17 per cent decline in pre-tax profit to Rs 284.47 crore as compared to Rs 345.28 in the same period last year. Net profit declined 14 per cent to Rs 311.65 crore, from Rs 364.68 crore in the same period last year, on account of loss in investment income and higher provisions.

Net premium stood at Rs 10,476 crore in Q4FY20, up 2.19 per cent from Rs 10,251 crore in Q4FY19. The value of new business (VNB) margin, a measure of profitability, rose 24.3 per cent. For the entire financial year, it stood at 25.9 per cent.