Aditya Birla Nuvo is in talks with global private equity players Blackstone, Carlyle and KKR to sell shareholding in its proposed holding firm for its financial services business. The financial services holding company will house its asset management, insurance, stock broking, wealth management and private equity businesses.
V N Khare and S P Bharucha, both once Chief Justices of India, have been appointed to the arbitration panel to resolve the issue of sale of the government's residual 49 per cent stake in Bharat Aluminium Company to Sterlite Industries.
In his first interview since taking over as ICICI Lombard managing director and CEO, Bhargav Dasgupta tells Shilpy Sinha that during the first quarter of 2009-10, the company has seen an increase in profit, while most other players are bleeding.
Suvir Sujan talks about his company's vision, investment plans and belief in the Indian growth story.
Insurers, mostly private ones, are opting to cancel mediclaim, marine and cargo cover at a later stage due to adverse claims ratio. In order to grab market share, they have not been pricing the product correctly. Sources said that ICICI Lombard has asked L&T to pay additional premium for the group mediclaim policy in the middle of the year. When contacted, L&T said that ICICI Lombard has requested for extra premium but has not sent any notice.
Life insurance companies have put their plans to list their shares on the stock exchanges on the backburner, though they are hopeful of Parliament's nod for the Insurance Bill, which will increase the foreign investment limit, during the Winter session.
As the government's Budget moves unfold, market participants are treading with caution. As a result, the open interest (OI) positions have taken a beating during June, especially during the last few weeks.
One year after the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority's (Irda) allowed insurance companies to invest in venture capital (VC) funds, no insurer has shown interest in funding VCs.
The three-judge arbitration panel set up to resolve the controversy over the sale of the government's residual 49 per cent stake in Sterlite-controlled Bharat Aluminium Company Ltd has decided to meet in August, raising hopes of a resolution to the five-year-old dispute.
Grasim Industries, the leading cement maker of the A V Birla group, is not enthusiastic at a proposal to merge with its subsidiary, UltraTech, as it does not see value in the process at this stage.
Aditya Birla group flagship firm Hindalco Industries has decided to trim its overseas operations and is restructuring its capital expenditure in India in an effort to stabilise operations. As part of this overall plan, Novelis, which Hindalco acquired for $6 billion in 2007, is closing its sheet mill at Rogerstone in the UK, involving 440 job losses.
Kingfisher pays 37 per cent higher premium while Air India defers renewal. "The Air France crash is expected to provide a $600-$700 million hit (to global insurance companies), which is 40 per cent of the total premium collected, and therefore hardening of reinsurance rates was evident. We had seen prices go up from $2 billion to $4 billion after the 9/11 attacks (in the US)," said ICICI Lombard Reinsurance Head Rajiv Kumaraswamy.
Sameer Nath, head of mergers and acquisitions for Citi Group Global Markets India, has been busy working on domestic restructuring and consolidation deals over the past six to nine months.
Life insurance premium rates are likely to drop over the next few months owing to longer life expectancy, with a new mortality and morbidity table expected to be in place by the fourth quarter of 2009 to replace the current one, which is of 1994-96 vintage.
Move follows pressure from insurers, who say they are losing on these payments.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India is discussing a proposal to make it mandatory for brokers to collect margins from clients in the cash market. This is now practised only in the derivative segment.
ESPN had paid Rs $ 1.1 billion for broadcaster rights in 2006 for the telecast rights till 2015.
Kingfisher Airlines, National Aviation Company of India Limited -- the state-owned company that runs Air India -- and Indigo could face additional cost pressures, with reinsurance rates expected to harden following the accident involving the Air France aircraft that was flying from Rio de Janeiro to Paris with 228 passengers on board.
India's second-largest private ship builder, Bharati Shipyard, which already holds 14.9 per cent stake Great Offshore, has said it will make an open offer to buy an additional 20 per cent. While P C Kapoor, MD, Bharati Shipyard, ruled out any possibility of a hostile takeover bid for Great Offshore, he had earlier said competitors such as Punj Lloyd and ABG Shipyard had shown an interest in buying Great Offshore shares from the open market.
Bharti Telecom, the unlisted holding company of Bharti Airtel, may issue fresh equity to the MTN group to give it the 25 per cent economic interest in India's largest mobile service provider.
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