UK's Standard Life on Thursday divested nearly 2 per cent stake in HDFC Life Insurance Company for a little over Rs 1,985 crore through open market transactions.

Axis Mutual Fund (MF),Mirae Asset MF, ICICI Prudential MF, Fidelity Investment, Aditya Birla Sun Life MF, Morgan Stanley, Nomura and Societe Generale are among the buyers who picked up shares of the insurance firm.

According to bulk deal data available with the BSE, Standard Life (Mauritius Holdings) 2006 Ltd, one of the promoters of the insurer, sold 4 crore shares, amounting to 1.98 per cent stake of HDFC Life.

The shares were offloaded at an average price of Rs 496.4, valuing the transaction at Rs 1,985.6 crore, the data showed.

Prior to this, Standard Life had sold 4.95 per cent stake in HDFC Life for Rs 5,750 crore in October 2019, and had offloaded 3.3 per cent stake in the insurance firm in August last year.

At the end of the March quarter, Standard Life held 12.25 per cent stake in HDFC Life, as per shareholding data on the BSE.

Shares of HDFC Life on Thursday closed 3.21 per cent higher at Rs 517.50 on the BSE.