Edelweiss, Tokio Marine to float life JV; seen lining up Rs 460 cr

20 Nov 2009 Evaluate

Edelweiss Capital and Japanese insurance group Tokio Marine have agreed to float a joint venture in the life insurance business and are expected to submit their application to the regulators shortly.  According to sources, boards of both the companies have approved the joint venture agreement.  The two partners are understood to have committed close to $100 m (Rs 460 crore) as initial capital for the life insurance business. The regulations prescribe a minimum start-up capital of Rs 100 crore. Edelweiss has a net worth of over Rs 2,500 crore while Tokio Marine is Japan’s second-largest property insurer.

There are 22 life insurance companies in India. The latest to receive an approval from the insurance regulator is IndiaFirst Life Insurance, a three-way joint venture between Bank of Baroda, Andhra Bank and UK insurer Legal & General. Most of the public sector banks are looking at some sort of presence in the life insurance space to leverage their distribution strengths. Edelweiss is a merchant banking company regulated by Sebi and would need approval from the market watchdog. Once the approval is in place, the two partners can jointly apply for a licence from the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority.  Tokio Marine holdings is already present in India as a minority shareholder in a non-life joint venture with fertiliser co-operative IFFCO. The company had to look out for a new partner for its life business as IFFCO was not interested in entering the highly capital-intensive life business.

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