Aditya Birla Capital may sell its insurance brokerage unit as part of the company’s plans to restructure its financial services business.
The company has held talks with potential buyers for Aditya Birla Insurance Brokers Ltd (ABIBL) as it failed to scale up the 19-year-old business, according to a Bloomberg report. ABIBL has about 350 people working across 11 locations in India.
ABIBL also offers re-insurance solutions to insurance companies and has developed strong relations with Indian as well as global insurers operating in India, South Asia, Middle East and South-East Asia.
Sources told businessline that Aditya Birla group is reviewing its entire insurance business which could lead to an exit of some parts of the business or look for M&A opportunities to improve returns. For instance, recently Birla Sun Life had evinced interest to acquire the 51 per cent stake held by Reliance Capital in its life insurance venture. But that deal did not go through after Japan-based Nippon Life did not agree to a reduced stake in the life insurance venture of RCap.
According to Bloomberg, the company plans to close the Aditya Birla Insurance Brokers Ltd transaction by March 31. However, no final decision has been reached regarding the valuation, and the sale could still be shelved.