HDFC Life Insurance slumps over 7% post block deal, recovers later

Reports said that Standard Life was looking to sell up to 3.2 per cent in HDFC Life, the largest life insurer by market capitalisation through an offer for sale (OFS).

Shares of HDFC Life Insurance Company slumped as much as 7.5 per cent to Rs 490 apiece on the BSE in the early trade on Wednesday after reports said co-promoter Standard Life sold more than 3 per cent stake in the company via block deal.

At 09:15 am, around 64.2 million equity shares representing 3.2 per cent total equity of HDFC Life Insurance Company changed hands via block deal on the BSE, the exchange data shows. The name of the buyers and sellers are not ascertained immediately.

Thus far in the calendar year 2019, Standard Life has reduced its stake in insurance firm by nearly 10 percentage points.

As of June 30, 2019, Standard Life Mauritius Holdings owns 23.02 per cent stake and HDFC owns 51.48 per cent in HDFC Life.  Standard Life held 29.23 per cent stake in HDFC Life at the end of December 2018 quarter, according to shareholding pattern data.

HDFC Standard Life was the first private sector life insurer to obtain registration from the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) and was established as a joint venture between HDFC (one of India's leading housing finance institutions) and Standard Life Aberdeen plc (one of the world's largest investment companies) initially through its wholly-owned subsidiary The Standard Life Assurance Company and now through its wholly-owned subsidiary Standard Life Mauritius.

On Wednesday, The Economic Times reported that Standard Life was looking to sell up to 3.2 per cent in HDFC Life, the largest life insurer by market capitalisation through an offer for sale (OFS).

For the quarter ended June 30, 2019, the life insurance company posted a 12 per cent year-on-year (YoY) rise in its net profit at Rs 425 crore against Rs 380 crore registered in the year-ago period. Total premium grew 29 per cent YoY to Rs 6,536 crore against Rs 5,058 crore last year.

In past three months, the stock had outperformed the market by 29 per cent as compared to 0.33 per cent decline in the S&P BSE Sensex till Tuesday.

At 09:39 am the stock, however, pared its losses later and was trading nearly 4 per cent lower at Rs 499 apiece.  In comparison, the benchmark index was ruling at 37,085 levels, up 127 points or 0.34 per cent higher.