Fairfax offloads 12% stake of ICICI Lombard

ICICI Lombard General Insurance on Saturday said its foreign partner Canada-based Fairfax has offloaded part stake of 12.18% to a clutch of investors, including Warburg Pincus, for Rs 2,473 crore.

The board, at its meeting held on Saturday, took note of the proposed sale of approximately 12.18% shareholding in the insurance firm by Fairfax to Red Bloom Investment (9%), a company wholly owned by private equity funds managed by Warburg Pincus LLC.

Besides, others that picked stakes were Tamarind Capital Pte (1.59%), a company wholly owned by the Clermont Group, and IIFL Special Opportunities Fund (1.59%), a fund managed by IIFL Asset Management. The company, formed in 2001, is a joint venture between ICICI Bank and Prem Watsa-run Fairfax Financial Holdings with a valuation of Rs 20,300 crore.

The stake sale by Fairfax is part of its plan to sell 25% in the general insurance firm and start a new insurance joint venture. ICICI Securities acted as an advisor. It is to be noted that last year, Fairfax Financial Holdings made an additional 9% stake acquisition in ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company for an estimated Rs 1,550 crore.

Following the transaction, the holding of Fairfax rose to 35% in ICICI Lombard while that of ICICI Bank came down to 64%.