Private sector life insurer HDFC Life on Friday said it'll acquire a 100 per cent stake in Exide life assurance Company for Rs 6,887 crore from Exide Industries Ltd (EIL) and subsequently, it'll be merged with HDFC Life, subject to regulatory approvals. This marks one among the primary and therefore the largest acquisitions within the life assurance space, which has 23 private players and one state-owned insurer - life assurance Corporation (LIC). Previously, HDFC Life had intended to accumulate Max Life but the deal didn't undergo due to regulatory hurdles. Experts said this deal will, however, isn't expected to face any such regulatory hurdles. Earlier, Reliance Capital, the NBFC arm of the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, had acquired the whole stake in AMP Sanmar from Australian insurer AMP and therefore the Sanmar group in October 2005 for a touch over Rs 100 crore. HDFC Life’s proposed acquisition will mark the primary acquisition within the past 16 years within the life assurance space. Of the Rs 6,887 crore that HDFC Life are going to be paying to accumulate Exide life assurance , Rs 725 crore are going to be payable in cash, and therefore the balance by issuing 87.02 million equity shares of face value of Rs 10 of the corporate issued at a price of Rs 685 per share to Exide Industries Limited, the company of Exide life assurance . EIL's total investment in Exide Life as on date was Rs 1679.59 crore. Post the acquisition, Exide Industries will hold a 4.1 per cent stake in HDFC Life and mortgage lender HDFC Ltd, which holds 49.9 per cent stake in HDFC Life, will see its stake come right down to 47.9 per cent. In a statement, HDFC Life, one among the most important private insurers within the life assurance space, said, “The proposed transaction will accelerate the expansion of the agency business of HDFC Life. Exide Life complements HDFC Life’s geographical presence and features a strong foothold in South India, especially in Tier 2 and three towns, thus providing access to a wider market”. HDFC Life’s agent base will get augmented by 36,700 agents post the acquisition and its agent base will grow to 144,605 from the present 107,895 agents. Also, the great quality of predominantly traditional and protection focussed business will augment the prevailing embedded value of HDFC Life by approximately 10 per cent. As of June 30, the embedded value of Exide Life is Rs. 2,711 crore and The date of completion of the sale depends on the time taken for receiving all approvals, including those from concerned regulators. However, it's estimated that the sale are going to be completed before June 2022. “The proposed transaction will give customers access to a wider bouquet of products and repair touchpoints. Employees and agents will enjoy a bigger , stronger organisation that realises the synergies arising out of complementary business models built on similar ethos”, HDFC Life said during a statement. In FY21, Exide life assurance earned premiums to the tune of Rs 3,325 crore. It’s asset under management was to the tune of Rs 18,870 crore as of June 30, 2021. Exide life reported revenue of Rs 4,937.46 crore within the year ended March 2021 with a net worth of Rs 1,481.42 crore. On the proposed acquisition, Deepak Parekh, chairman, HDFC Life said, “This may be a landmark transaction, first of its kind, within the Indian life assurance space. it might enhance insurance penetration and further our purpose of providing financial protection to a wider customer base.” Vibha Padalkar, MD&CEO, HDFC Life said, “We believe that this amalgamation may result in value creation for patrons , employees, shareholders and distribution partners. It gives us a chance to understand synergies arising out of complementary business models, and further bolster our proprietary distribution network”. Shares of HDFC Life are trading 3 per cent lower at Rs 735.90 post the announcement of the acquisition. HDFC Life had reported a 33 per cent decline in standalone net profits at Rs 302 crore in Q1FY22 thanks to higher claim payout by the corporate and better provisions being put aside to mitigate the impact of upper claims due to the pandemic. it's found out a further reserve of Rs 700 crore to service further claims. The solvency ratio of the insurer at the top of Q1FY22 stood at 203 per cent, above the regulatory requirement of 150 per cent. An industry expert said insurance naturally may be a capital-guzzling business so it’s the management’s call whether to infuse capital within the company at regular intervals or exit the corporate completely by selling it lock, stock, and barrel. With foreign direct investment within the insurance sector increased to 74 per cent, we may even see promoters of smaller companies exit the space by selling their stake to foreign companies.

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Private sector life insurer HDFC Life on Friday said it’ll acquire a 100 per cent stake in Exide life assurance Company for Rs 6,887 crore from Exide Industries Ltd (EIL) and subsequently, it’ll be merged with HDFC Life, subject to regulatory approvals. This marks one among the primary and thereforeContinue Reading

How Many Variants Will Fans See In Loki Season 2?

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With Loki Season 1 ending on a high note, people have already began to believe Season 2. All the fans of this series expect tons more from this Season. to possess all the small print about Loki Season 2, read here MCU fans are considerably thrilled, downhearted and anxious atContinue Reading

New Apple smartwatch with larger screen suffers production snags

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This isn’t the primary time Apple encountered issues, whilst the primary version was also delayed in 2015 thanks to production problems Apple Inc.’s upcoming smartwatch is suffering production snags as manufacturers suits a replacement design, likely resulting in supply constraints or shipment delays, consistent with a source conversant in things Continue Reading

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The Taliban made overtures to India on a restive Sunday in Kabul that remained the scene of hectic talks. The already-tense environment within the city was punctuated by an explosion that the Taliban said was a US attack on a terrorist heading for the airport. A shortwhile before the airstrike,Continue Reading

A coronavirus infection presents a much higher risk of developing a blood clot than the first dose of either the Oxford/AstraZeneca or the Pfizer/BioNTech jab, a large study led by the University of Oxford said on Friday. The research used findings from more than 29 million people who were vaccinated with the first doses of either vaccine between December 2020 and April 2021. The findings showed although there was an increased risk of having a blood clot after having the first doses of either vaccine, it was much greater in someone who had tested positive for COVID-19 caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus. “People should be aware of these increased risks after COVID-19 vaccination and seek medical attention promptly if they develop symptoms, but also be aware that the risks are considerably higher and over longer periods of time if they become infected with SARS-CoV-2,” said Julia Hippisley-Cox, Professor of Clinical Epidemiology and General Practice at the University of Oxford and lead author of the paper. The study covered thrombocytopenia – a condition with low platelet counts – and thromboembolic events (blood clots) following vaccination for COVID-19, some of the same events which had led to restricted use in a number of countries of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine – being produced and administered in India as Covishield. Writing in the ‘British Medical Journal' (BMJ), the researchers detail the findings from over 29 million people vaccinated with first doses of either the ChAdOx1 nCov-19 or Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine or the BNT162b2 mRNA or Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine. They conclude that with both of these vaccines, for short time intervals following the first dose, there are increased risks of some haematological and vascular adverse events leading to hospitalisation or death. The authors further note that the risk of these adverse events is substantially higher and for a longer period of time, following infection from the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus than after either vaccine. “This research is important as many other studies, while useful, have been limited by small numbers and potential biases. Electronic healthcare records, which contain the detailed recording of vaccinations, infections, outcomes and confounders, have provided us with a rich source of data with which to perform a robust evaluation of these vaccines, and compare to risks associated with COVID-19 infection,” explains Prof Hippisley-Cox. All of the coronavirus vaccines currently in use have been tested in randomised clinical trials, which are unlikely to be large enough to detect very rare adverse events. When rare events are uncovered, then regulators perform a risk-benefit analysis of the medicine; to compare the risks of the adverse events if vaccinated versus the benefits of avoidance of the disease – in this case, COVID-19. Aziz Sheikh, Professor of Primary Care Research & Development and Director of the Usher Institute at the University of Edinburgh and a co-author of the paper, said: “This enormous study, using data on over 29 million vaccinated people, has shown that there is a very small risk of clotting and other blood disorders following the first dose COVID-19 vaccination. "Though serious, the risk of these same outcomes is much higher following SARS-CoV-2 infection. “On balance, this analysis therefore clearly underscores the importance of getting vaccinated to reduce the risk of these clotting and bleeding outcomes in individuals, and because of the substantial public health benefit that COVID-19 vaccinations offer," Sheikh said. In the paper, the team of authors from the University of Oxford, University of Leicester, Guys and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, the Intensive Care National Audit & Research Centre, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, the University of Cambridge, the University of Edinburgh and the University of Nottingham, compared rates of adverse events after vaccination with Pfizer/BioNTech and Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccines with rates of the same events after a positive SARS-CoV-2 test result. For this, they used routinely collected electronic health records to evaluate the short-term risks (within 28 days) of hospital admission with thrombocytopenia, venous thromboembolism (VTE) and arterial thromboembolism (ATE), using data collected from across England between December 1, 2020 and April 24, 2021. Other outcomes studied were cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST), ischemic stroke, myocardial infarction and other rare arterial thrombotic events.

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A coronavirus infection presents a way higher risk of developing a grume than the primary dose of either the Oxford/AstraZeneca or the Pfizer/BioNTech jab, an outsized study led by the University of Oxford said on Friday. The research used findings from quite 29 million people that were vaccinated with theContinue Reading