State Bank of India (SBI) on Friday said it plans to dilute 10 per cent of its stake in insurance venture SBI Life through public offer.
The executive committee of central board accorded in-principle approval for initial public offer (IPO) of shares, SBI said.
SBI Life Insurance is a venture of the bank and BNP Paribas Cardif. SBI owns 74 per cent of the total capital and BNP the rest. BNP ruled out increasing its stake in SBI Life to 49 per cent ahead of the proposed initial public offering slated for next year.
The insurer has an authorised capital of Rs 2,000 crore and a paid-up capital of Rs 1,000 crore. SBI had last year sold 3.9 per cent stake in SBI Life to global private equity major KKR and the Singaporean sovereign fund Temasek Holdings for Rs 1,794 crore or $264 million, valuing the country's third-largest private life insurer at Rs 46,000 crore.
After this stake sale, SBI's stake in the arm came down to 70.1 per cent from 74 per cent while BNP Paribas Cardif still holds 26 per cent.