US private equity giant Carlyle Group has acquired a 9% stake in India’s SBI Life Insurance from BNP Paribas Cardif, a subsidiary of French banking group BNP Paribas, for an undisclosed amount.
The acquisition was made through CA Emerald Investments, an affiliate of Carlyle Asia Partners V, the firm’s Asia Pacific-focused flagship fund, Carlyle says in a statement on March 1.
According to Hong Kong-based InsuranceAsia News, the company paid 45 billion rupees (US$633 million) for the stake. The March 4 report did not cite any sources. A Carlyle spokeswoman declined to tell Asia Asset Management whether the figure is accurate.
Mumbai-based SBI Life Insurance, a joint venture between State Bank of India and BNP Paribas Cardif, is one of the largest insurers in India with over 800 branches nationwide.
BNP Paribas Cardif’s shareholding in the insurer dropped to 12.8% following the stake sale.
State Bank of India is the majority shareholder in the listed insurance firm, with a 62.1% stake. The other shareholders are individual investors and investment firms, including Singapore-based MacRitchie Investments.
Carlyle has had ties with SBI Life Insurance since it became an investor in the insurer’s SBI Cards & Payments Services unit in 2017.
“The life insurance industry in India has strong potential thanks to favourable demographics and an increasing focus on financial savings,” Sunil Kaul, managing director of the Carlyle Asia Buyout advisory team, says in the statement.
He describes SBI Life Insurance as the “most trusted brand in financial services with an unparalleled nationwide branch network” in India.
Carlyle has approximately $216 billion of assets under management currently.
