Bengaluru: British insurer Standard Life said on Monday that India’s insurance watchdog had “expressed reservations” in accepting the current deal terms for the purchase by its Indian joint venture of Max Life Insurance.
In August HDFC Standard Life Insurance Co (HDFC Life) agreed to buy India’s Max Life Insurance in an all-stock deal to create the nation’s top private life insurer valued at nearly $10 billion.
The deal is expected to kick-start consolidation in India’s lucrative insurance sector where relatively few people hold insurance policies despite the country huge population.
Standard Life said that Indian mortgage lender Housing Development Finance Corp, which currently owns a majority of HDFC Life, believes that the scheme of arrangement submitted to Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) complied with all applicable laws.
The companies, which filed an application for IRDAI's in-principle approval for the scheme in September, propose to make suitable representations to the regulator, Standard Life said.
