RCap's entities attract 54 insurers, private equity firms – Times of India

MUMBAI: Several insurance companies and private equity investors have shown interest in bidding for Reliance Capital’s businesses. In particular, they are eyeing RCap’s stakes in its life and non-life insurance companies.
According to sources, up to 54 expressions of interest (EoIs) have been received in all. The resolution is a complex issue as RCap has over 20 subsidiaries and five associate companies and bidders have a choice between bidding for the group or for one of the eight business clusters. The extended last date for submitting EoIs was March 25. The final bids would be submitted only in the next financial year after the interested bidders go through the books.
Sources said that ICICI Lombard, Tata AIG, HDFC Ergo, Nippon Life Insurance, Bandhan Financial Holdings, Cholamandalam Investment, Adani Finserv, Yes Bank, OakTree Capital, Blackstone, New Quest, IndusInd International, Brookfield, TPG, Zurich, Ares SSG Capital, ArpWood Partners, Capri Global Holdings, Edelweiss Alternative, International Asset Reconstruction Company, JC Flower, Motilal Oswal, Square Four Housing, UV Multiple Asset Investment were among those who showed interest.
Some of the private insurance companies are interested only in the non-life business of Reliance as Nippon Life already controls 75% of the life insurance company – the maximum permissible for foreign investors. The maximum value of the group’s holdings resides in these two companies.
Besides the insurance arm, other key subsidiaries are Reliance Securities, Reliance Asset Reconstruction Company, Reliance Home Finance and Reliance Commercial Finance.
The RBI had superseded the board of RCap in November 2021 and appointed Nageswara Rao Y as the administrator in relation to the corporate insolvency resolution process (CIRP) of the company. The RBI subsequently applied for initiation of insolvency proceedings at the Mumbai bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT).
The decision to sell the subsidiaries in eight clusters was aimed at offloading the related businesses in one go. The separate businesses include life insurance, non-life insurance, asset reconstruction, Reliance Commercial and Reliance Housing Finance. The four financial service companies Reliance Securities, Reliance Financial, Reliance Wealth Management and Reliance Commodities are one cluster. The remaining two clusters are companies that are holding entities for real estate assets and those for investment in other businesses.
Last year, Yes Bank had acquired Reliance Capital’s headquarters in Santacruz as part of a deal to secure repayment for Rs 1,200 crore of loans advanced to Reliance Infrastructure. Reliance Capital now has a registered office in Kamala Mills.