ICICI Pru Life open to acquisition

ICICI Prudential Life, a leading private sector life insurer, is open to inorganic growth provided any good opportunity comes up, a top official said.

"If it makes financial sense, we would go for acquisition. If something comes up the table and makes financial sense we may look at it," ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Executive Director Sandeep Batra told PTI.

Not at the moment, he said, when asked if the company is talking to any potential suitors for the acquisition.

Currently, there are 24 life insurance players, including Life Insurance Corporation.

ICICI Prudential Life was the first insurance firm to go public. It was listed on stock exchanges in September 2016.

Incorporated in July 2000, ICICI Prudential Life is a joint venture between India's largest private sector lender ICICI Bank and Prudential Corporation Holdings, a part of the UK-based Prudential Group.

After the issue, ICICI Bank's stake reduced to around 55 per cent from 67.52 per cent earlier. Prudential Corporation Holdings held 25.83 per cent in the company.

Hasham Traders, owned by Azim Premji, held 4 per cent stake in the insurance company and Compassvale Investments, an indirectly wholly owned subsidiary of Temasek, has 2 per cent shareholding.

For the quarter ended December 2017, the firm reported a profit of Rs 452.10 crore.

Its gross premium grew by 19.31 per cent to Rs 6,855.63 crore during the third quarter of FY18, compared to Rs 5,746 crore in the same period last year.

New business premium of the company grew to Rs 1,933.94 crore during the quarter ending December 31, as against Rs 1,780.88 crore in the same quarter of 2016-17.

Batra said the company witnessed new business growth of about 17 per cent in the year ago period, and expects slightly higher growth in the current fiscal.

The exact number for the 2017-18 would be known when the company will announce numbers later this month, he clarified.