Shares of Analjit Group company Max Financial Services (formerly Max India) ended flat on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) on Thursday after it was reported that global investment firm KKR has picked up a nearly 10 percent stake in the company for an undisclosed sum.
The stock closed at Rs 345.30 on the BSE.
KKR said in a statement on Wednesday that it has picked up 9.95 percent stake in Max Financial Services. The stake was acquired from a sponsor group led by Max Group's chairman emeritus Analjit Singh.
Singh described the timing of the deal as "opportune."
"KKR has been a long-standing, value-added partner to Max Group across various business initiatives. The extension of our partnership couldn't have happened at a more opportune time than now, following the listing of Max Financial Services which creates an unparallelled platform to invest in the Indian life insurance space," DealStreetAsia quoted Analjit Singh as saying in the statement.
Max Financial Services holds about 72 percent in Max Life, a joint venture between the company and Japan's Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance.
The partnership between KKR and Max Financial Services comes when the Indian life insurance sector is set for rapid growth after a recent spell of slowdown.
For the third quarter ended December 2015, the demerged entity reported revenues of Rs 136.42 crore, including dividend income of Rs 131.25 crore from its investment in Max Life, and net profit of Rs 127 crore.
In January 2016, the Max Group concluded a corporate restructuring wherein the then Max India was demerged into three separate entities, Max Financial Services, Max India and Max Ventures & Industries.
"The primary objective of the demerger was to give investors undiluted access to our life insurance business," Rahul Khosla, president, Max Group said in a statement on Feb.12, 2016.
