Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Tata Group studying AIG Asia sale to Prudential

March 02, 2010 06:20 PM
The Tata Group has a joint venture with the now 
bankrupt AIG for both life as well as non-life 
insurance businesses, in which AIG holds 26% stake

The Tata Group on Tuesday said that it was studying the 
decision of its insurance partner American Insurance Group 
(AIG) to sell the Asian operations to British insurance major Prudential.


The Tata Group has a joint venture with the now 
bankrupt AIG for both life as well as non-life insurance 
businesses, in which AIG holds 26% stake.

"Any comment will be made post-studying the statement made 
by AIG in the US. For Tata AIG, it's business as usual," 
a Tata Group spokesperson told PTI.

Prudential, which would acquire the Asian operations of AIG (AIA)
is already present in the life insurance space in the country 
with a joint venture with ICICI Bank.

ICICI Prudential Life is a 26:74 joint venture between 
Prudential and the country's largest private sector lender ICICI Bank.

As per the norms, an insurance player cannot hold stakes
in two insurance firms in the country. 

So by that yardstick, Prudential cannot have stake in 
Tata AIG Life. However, it is not yet clear whether the
deal includes the Indian operations of AIG or not.

Yesterday, Prudential snapped up AIG's Asia operations
(AIA) for $35.50 billion in a cash-stock deal.

Announcing the deal in New York, AIG president and 
chief executive Bob Benmosche had said that the sale 
is an effort at restructuring the bankrupt company's
business and pay back US taxpayers.

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