Bharti Enterprises Divests Stake In ICICI Lombard For Rs 663 Crore

Bharti Enterprises Ltd. has sold 38.5 lakh shares of ICICI Lombard Insurance General Insurance Co. for Rs 663 crore in the open market on Thursday. ICICI Bank Ltd., Morgan Stanley Asia Singapore Pte and Goldman Sachs Singapore Pte, among others, bought the shares.

Bharti Enterprises sold a 0.75% stake at Rs 1,722.50 per share, according to BSE block deal data. In February, the Sunil Bharti Mittal-owned company had sold 62.50 lakh shares at Rs 1,666.35 per share.

As of March, Bharti Enterprises held a 2.43% stake in the company.

On the other hand, ICICI Bank increased its stake in the insurer by 0.08%, Axis Mutual Fund bought 4 lakh shares—representing a 0.08% stake—and Morgan Stanley Asia Singapore bought 0.09%. The other buyers included Goldman Sachs Singapore (0.04%) and Blackstone Aqua Master Sub-Fund (0.01%).

As of March, ICICI Bank held a 51.27% stake in ICICI Lombard GIC. ICICI Bank, the promoter of ICICI Lombard GIC, acquired 25.1 lakh shares for Rs 432 crore in February, following approval from the Reserve Bank of India and the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India.