Canara HSBC Life Insurance Company has filed draft papers for an initial public offering (IPO), with its existing shareholders planning to divest part of their holdings, Reuters reported.
The life insurer is a joint venture between state-owned Canara Bank, which holds a 51% stake, and HSBC Group’s HSBC Insurance (Asia Pacific) Holdings, which owns 26%. Punjab National Bank, the third shareholder, owns the remaining 23%.
Under the proposed offering, Canara Bank will sell up to 137.75m shares, HSBC Insurance (Asia Pacific) Holdings up to 4.75m shares, while Punjab National Bank plans to divest up to 95m shares. Reuters said the company confirmed it would not issue any new shares as part of the listing.
The company has not disclosed the total size or expected timeline for the IPO in its draft filing.
The filing comes after the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) received IPO proposals from nine major insurance companies in February, spanning both the life and general insurance sectors.
This comes amid a broader wave of insurance-related IPO activity across Asia, with Chinese insurance brokerage Yuanbao targeting a US$676m valuation through a U.S. listing, and Seoul Guarantee Insurance gaining over 20% on its KOSPI debut.
