The Competition Commission of India (CCI) on Friday approved the acquisition of stake in SBI General Insurance Company Ltd by Napean Opportunities LLP and Honey Wheat Investment Ltd, according to a CCI press release.
While Napean Opportunities will acquire 16.01% paid up share capital of SBI General Insurance, Honey Wheat Investment will buy 9.99% of equity share capital of the insurance company. Also, PI Opportunities Fund-1, which owns Napean Opportunities, will hold 2.35% and Axis New Opportunities AIF-I will hold 1.65% stake in the company.
The country’s largest lender State Bank of India (SBI) will continue to own 70% in its general insurance arm. SBI in October said its joint venture partner IAG would sell entire 26 per cent stake in its subsidiary SBI General Insurance to Napean Opportunities and WP Honey Wheat for an undisclosed amount.
Napean Opportunities is a newly incorporated entity and belongs to PI Opportunities and Azim Premji Trust. SBI General Insurance is engaged in the business of providing general insurance products, including motor, health, personal accident, travel, home, aviation, fire, marine, package, construction and engineering and liability insurance.
Honey Wheat is a part of the Warburg Pincus Group, which is stated to have investments over $79 billion in more than 880 companies, across 40 countries.
In November 2018, SBI had sold 4% stake in SBI General Insurance for ₹482 crore to two alternative investment funds (AIFs)—Axis New Opportunities AIF-I and PI Opportunities Fund-I. The transaction valued SBI General Insurance at over ₹12,000 crore.
Source: Mint