Zurich Insurance eyes 49%-51% stake in Kotak General Insurance for up to Rs 3,200 cr: Report

Zurich Insurance Group is in talks to buy up to 51% of Kotak General Insurance, which is fully-owned by Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd, said a report on Wednesday.

The early-stage negotiations value the company at around $800 million, and Zurich Insurance has expresed interest in both a minority stake of 49% or taking up a majority 51% stake, reported Reuters quoting sources.

The stake the Swiss insurer wants to secure will be worth around $400 million, they said.

If the deal fructifies, this would mark Zurich Insurance's first major bet on the fast-growing South Asian insurance market

Kotak is still evaluating offers, including from other investors, but it prefers retaining "control of the company" after the stake sale, a source told Reuters.

A spokesperson for Zurich Insurance, one of Europe's largest insurers, said "as a matter of principle, we don't comment on market rumours and speculations".

More than 30 companies operate in India's general insurance market, where annual premium collections grew 11% to reach $26.7 billion in 2021-22, helped by rising financial literacy and income levels, CareEdge Ratings said in a report.

Many in India still consider health insurance, for example, as a tax savings tool. CareEdge added that India remains a vastly underpenetrated market with non-life insurance penetration of 1% in 2021, compared with the global average of 4.1%, highlighting "the potential of the industry."

Already, foreign companies such as Germany's Allianz and South Africa's Lombard have general insurance partnerships with Indian banking or financial groups.

Kotak, which is a relatively smaller general insurance player, is holding stake sale talks as it hopes to get an investor who can help them "turn around the business and grow faster", reported Reuters.

The Kotak unit reported a loss of $10 million and clocked a premium income of $91.35 million in 2021-22, when bigger rival HDFC Ergo garnered $1.66 billion.

One industry executive in Europe, who is not aware of the current deal talks, said Zurich has for several years evaluated the India market, where businesses are generally more profitable and have better margins than those in Europe.

In 2017, Zurich said it wanted to grow its presence in markets such as China and India, where it can "compete without being a dominant player". The company operates in more than 200 countries and provides life insurance as well as for health and cars.

India in 2021 relaxed foreign investment rules for the insurance sector, allowing companies to acquire majority stakes of up to 74%, from 49% earlier.

With inputs from Reuters

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