The promoters of Bharti AXA insurance — Bharti Enterprises and AXA Asia Pacific Holdings — are looking to divest stakes in both life and non-life insurance companies to rope in a bancassurance entity as a third partner.
“We are in talks with a number of banks and a few talks are in an advanced stage. We are open to reducing our stake. Both partners have agreed to bring down their holdings to rope in a bank partner,” said Glenn Williams, chief executive officer, Bharti AXA.
Recently, Max New York Life sold five per cent to Axis Bank for a strategic bancassurance tie-up of 10 years.
The promoters plan to infuse Rs 450 crore this financial year. The company has so far infused Rs 1,300 crore in the life insurance joint venture. It has also rebranded itself.
“While studying the market in the last four-five months, we found that the reputation of the company is not good. We would like to redefine ourselves,” added Williams.
The insurer is targeting break-even in 2015. It has opened 180 branches and plans to first leverage these before opening new ones.
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It aims to launch two new protection products and collect another Rs 900 crore in new business premium income during the financial year.
In the first five months, the insurer has collected Rs 320 crore. On an average, it expects to grow by 40-60 per cent annually till 2015.
With the new set of reforms in the unit-linked insurance space that kicked in from September 1, insurers are redesigning their business models.
At the same time, insurers feel differentiation in products will become difficult in the changed structure.