Standard Life Aberdeen offloads 2.5% stake in HDFC Life Insurance

Standard Life Aberdeen on Friday divested 2.5 per cent stake in HDFC Life Insurance Company.

The UK-based firm sold shares offloaded 50 million shares at Rs 441.2 apiece to raise Rs 2,200 crore. Prior to the stake sale, Standard Life, a co-promoter along with HDFC, held 14.73 per cent in the private life insurer.

Shares were priced at a discount of nearly 7 per cent to Thursday’s volume weighted average price (VWAP) and 3 per cent to the three—day VWAP. The share sale was successful despite challenging market conditions.

Market sources say investment bankers launched the transaction after they got reverse inquiries from investors. “Large demand from marquee investors helped provided us comfort to launch the deal despite huge volatility in the secondary market,” said an investment banker.