By IANS,
Mumbai : To mark 25 years of Reliance Capital, chairman Anil Ambani Tuesday said the board will consider a special dividend Sep 10 even as talks were on to sell 26 percent stake to strategic investors in the general insurance business.
Addressing the annual general meeting of the company here, Ambani also said the group will consider an initial public offering for its life insurance arm at an appropriate time. The life insurance arm already has a strategic investor in Nippon Life.
The announcements led to a significant jump in the shares of Reliance Capital which were quoting at Rs.330 at around 1330 hours, with a gain of Rs.9.70 or 3.03 percent over the previous day’s close on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).
Last month, the company had announced the conclusion of a 26-percent stake sale in its asset management company to Japan’s Nippon Life for $290 million, which has been the largest such deal in India’s mutual fund industry till date.
This was after Nippon Life had acquired a similar 26-percent stake in Reliance Life, the life insurance arm of Reliance Capital, for $680 billion, which pegged the valuation of the group’s life insurance business at $2.6 billion.
During the meeting with shareholders, Ambani reported a 21 percent rise in consolidated total income at Rs.66 billion ($1.4 billion) for Reliance Capital during 2011-12, and a 57 percent jump in consolidated net profit at Rs. 4.6 billion ($95 million).