Public sector lender Canara Bank informed the exchanges on Friday that it has approved a proposal to dilute its ownership in the subsidiary unit, Canara HSBC Life Insurance Company, via an initial public offering (IPO). The bank in an official filing said that it will sell 14.50 per cent of its stake in the insurance entity via a maiden public listing.
“Canara Bank has accorded approval for initiating the process of diluting 14.50 per cent stake of the Bank in its subsidiary M/s Canara HSBC Life Insurance Company Ltd by listing the Company in Stock Exchanges (BSE/NSE) through Initial Public Offer (IPO),” the lender said.
The proposal remains subject to approval from the central bank, Reserve Bank of India, and The Department of Financial Services, Government of India, the lender informed.
The bank said that the remaining details of the issue will be disclosed in some time. “The size of the issue, opportune time and modalities of issue will be decided in due course. The bank will update the exchanges of all material developments with regard to the same, as and when required, as per applicable regulations,” the bank noted.
Notably, as of the end of the 2023-24 fiscal year (FY24), the bank owned a share of 51 per cent in its insurance entity.
For the January-March quarter of FY24, Canara HSBC Life Insurance Company Ltd clocked a profit of Rs 113.31 crore. The lender is reportedly also planning to offload a 13 per cent stake of equity shares in Canara Robeco Asset Management Company (CRAMC) by making the mutual fund entity go public.
Earlier in December last year, the bank also gave an in-principle approval to kickstart the process of listing its mutual fund entity by doing a maiden listing.