Bloomberg News reports that Warburg Pincus engages in advanced talks to sell its 10% stake in SBI General Insurance which values the Indian insurer at $4.5 billion.
Warburg Pincus conducts negotiations with Premji Invest and State Bank of India (SBI) about selling its 10% stake in the insurer while SBI maintains its 70% ownership of the company. Premji Invest acquired its 16% stake in the company through a joint investment with Warburg in 2019 which exceeded $430 million.
The financial services sector in India now draws more investor interest because insurance penetration continues to rise and people demand more financial products. SBI General Insurance operates as one of the major non-life insurance providers in India.
The potential sale would enable Warburg to exit after five years while SBI could use the opportunity to merge ownership or execute a larger strategic business move. The representatives from Warburg Pincus and Premji Invest and SBI chose not to provide any statements.
The completed transaction would become one of the biggest insurance sector deals in India during recent times while demonstrating increasing institutional interest in acquiring long-term financial services investments.
