HDFC Life listing only after Standard Life stake hike

A senior official of mortgage lender HDFC said here today that a decision to list its life insurance arm, HDFC Life, will be taken only after its joint venture partner Standard Life hikes its stake in the company.
"Yes, we are very keen to do an initial public offering (IPO) for HDFC Life, but first, we would want the Standard Life transaction to be completed," HDFC Vice-Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Keki Mistry told reporters.
Currently, HDFC owns 71.42 per cent and the UK-based Standard Life 26 per cent stake in the joint venture.
"They would probably want to increase their stake to some level. We are discussing with them about the level up to which they would like to hike their stake. Once it is decided, we will be able to articulate our future strategy," Mistry said.

In March this year, Parliament had passed the Insurance Bill allowing hiking overseas investment cap in insurance companies to 49 per cent from the current 26 per cent.
After the Bill was cleared, several insurers, including Bharti, Reliance, Max and SBI, said their overseas partners would raise their stakes in their respective joint ventures to 49 per cent.

When asked about listing of its non-life insurance company HDFC Ergo General Insurance, Mistry said there are no such plans though Ergo may like to raise its stake in the joint venture.
"At this point, Ergo would probably want to look at increasing its stake to the level up to which it is permitted -- which is 49 per cent. So, that process is still on," he said.

HDFC ERGO General Insurance is a 74:26 joint venture between HDFC and ERGO International AG, the primary insurance entity of Munich Re Group.