Standard Life Assurance has paid Rs 201 crore for acquiring 7.15% in HDFC Standard Life from Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC) on Monday. HDFC sold 7.15% of the equity of HDFC SLIC to Standard Life at a pre-agreed price. After hiking its stake Standard Life now holds 26% of the equity capital of HDFC SLIC, the maximum allowed under current regulations.
However HDFC and SLAC have also agreed that any future sale of shares by HDFC to Standard Life if and when permitted by law would be at a fair value. The company plans to aggressively grow its business in the coming years. HDFC SLIC has over 12,000 employees and more than 1,00,000 financial consultants covering over 700 cities in India.
HDFC and Standard Life are committed to the continued growth of HDFC SLIC and an IPO of the business. Subject to the applicable regulations, the current plan is to launch the IPO before the end of 2009. The company has been consistently growing since inception and has a new business market share of 9.2% in the private sector with total premium income of Rs 2,856 crore in the year 2006-07.