Global investment firm Carlyle acquires 9% stake in SBI Life Insurance from BNP Paribas Cardif

New Delhi: SBI Life Insurance on Friday said global investment firm Carlyle Group has acquired nine percent stake in the life insurer from BNP Paribas Cardif. At the current market price, Carlyle would have paid Rs 5,445 crore for the nine crore shares picked up from the open market. Following the transaction, Cardif’s stake in SBI Life has come down to 12.8 percent from 22 percent while Carlyle’s holding through CA Emerald Investments is at nine percent. SBI remains the majority shareholder with 62.1 percent stake in the company. [caption id=“attachment_4224819” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Reuters.[/caption] SBI Managing Director (global banking & subsidiaries) Dinesh Kumar Khara said SBI Life appreciates the support given by Cardif in this journey and look forward to Carlyle’s support to the company. The life insurance industry in India has a strong growth potential thanks to favourable demographics and an increasing focus on financial savings, said Sunil Kaul, MD of the Carlyle Asia Buyout advisory team. “Separately, our company has also been informed by BNP Paribas Cardif S A (Cardif), that it has successfully sold 9,22,52,908 equity shares of our company, cumulatively representing 9.2 percent of the total issued and paid-up equity share capital of our company, as on March 1, 2019,” SBI Life said in a regulatory filing. Carlyle’s equity for this investment came from CA Emerald Investments, an affiliated entity of Carlyle Asia Partners V, Carlyle’s flagship USD 6.55 billion fund focused on buyout and strategic investments across a range of sectors in Asia Pacific, a joint press statement said. Carlyle has invested in the financial services industry in Asia Pacific for 20 years, deploying more than USD 4 billion of equity in more than 15 private equity investments as of December 31, 2018. In India, Carlyle’s recent investments in financial services include PNB Housing Finance and SBI Card. Shares of SBI Life were trading at Rs 605 per unit, up 4.22 percent on BSE.