Reliance Nippon Life Asset Management says plans IPO in 2017/18

MUMBAI (Reuters) - India's Reliance Nippon Life Asset Management Ltd said on Wednesday it plans to list on the stock exchanges this financial year through an initial public offering of shares.

The company, which is one of India's biggest fund houses with about $55 billion in assets under management, said it will sell a minimum 10 percent stake in the IPO.

"Initially we will be listing 10 percent and as per the SEBI listing guidelines over the next three years we will be going up to 25 percent," said Chief Executive Sundeep Sikka, referring to the rules set by India's capital markets regulator.

The company's two owners, Reliance Capital Ltd and Japan's Nippon Life Insurance, will participate in the IPO, he added.

Sikka declined to give further details but said the company would immediately start the process of hiring banks to manage the IPO.

Reliance Capital, which owns 51 percent of the asset management company, is part of billionaire Anil Ambani's Reliance Group.

(Reporting by Abhirup Roy; Editing by Devidutta Tripathy and Subhranshu Sahu)