INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
KOLKATA: Japanese general insurer Sompo Japan Nipponkoa Insurance would pay Rs 125 crore to buy 6% more stake in Universal Sompo General
Insurance, India's first insurance company where three banks are promoters.
Sompo would buy the stake from Karnataka Bank, which holds
14.26% in the joint venture, Universal Sompo chairman O N Singh said.
Non-bank promoter Dabur Investment Corporation would also buy about 2%
stake in the company from the private sector lender for Rs 42 crore.
The deals, which are awaiting approval of the Insurance Regulatory
Development Authority (Irda), would reinforce the attractiveness of the general insurance industry that has seen entities such as Prem
12.8%
Karnataka Bank has signed share purchase agreements with Sompo and Dabur to this end, which comes close on the heels of Universal
Karnataka Bank will sell over 3 crore shares for Rs 55 a piece to Sompo and Dabur.
The rights issue of shares was only subscribed by Sompo
and Dabur while Karnataka Bank and other promoters, Allahabad Bank and Indian Overseas Bank, did not subscribe to it.
The government has
against Rs 49 crore in FY17
This has enabled the company to raise its net worth to Rs 750 crore from Rs 354 crore in the preceding fiscal, wiping out the carried
forward losses of Rs 82 crore
The company has shown an underwriting profit of Rs 289 crore in FY18 as against a loss of Rs 71 crore in FY17
and individual health insurance.
