Bharti Group is in advanced talks with SBI Life and some other insurers to sell its now wholly owned life insurance venture Bharti AXA Life Insurance, people aware of the negotiations told ET.
The move comes after Bharti Group in October 2023 announced plans to buy out its joint venture partner AXA Group’s 49% stake in the life insurance business. “After acquiring the business from AXA, Bharti has been looking to exit the insurance business and focus on telecom,” one of the people cited above said. “After selling the general insurance business to ICICI Lombard by way of merger, it has been looking to sell the life insurance business entirely.”
There is no clarity on whether the deal will go through, people cited above said.
Spokespersons of Bharti declined to comment while SBI Life said it will not comment on market speculation.
ET could not ascertain the potential deal value for Bharti’s life insurance business and how much Bharti shelled out for AXA’s 49% stake.
Bharti Life Ventures Pvt Ltd (BLVPL), the holding firm of Bharti Group’s insurance business, should have full ownership of the life insurance venture post the acquisition of AXA’s stake, which was subject to regulatory clearances. Bharti and the French insurer had formed two joint ventures in 2006, with the Indian partner holding 74% stake in both Bharti AXA Life Insurance and Bharti AXA General Insurance.
The general insurance venture was merged into ICICI Lombard in 2020 when AXA exited the company.
Earlier attempts by Hinduja Group and Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) to acquire AXA’s stake in the life insurance venture did not fructify, leading to Bharti agreeing to buy out the JV partner.
Bharti AXA has a market share of 2% in terms of premium in the life insurance sector. Equity share capital of the company stood at Rs 3,706 crore as of March 31, 2023. In the last financial year, the company had underwritten Rs 2,920 crore premium income. As of March 2023, Bharti AXA Life Insurance had an investment book of Rs 12,009 crore and its solvency stood at 1.63 times against the regulatory requirement of 1.5 times.
