Religare Enterprises Ltd (REL) informed the BSE that it had completed its exit from its Life Insurance Joint Venture (JV), Aegon Religare Life Insurance Company Limited. REL sold its stake in the JV to Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. (BCCL), a Times Group Company and a non-promoter group entity. The total consideration for this transaction was approximately Rs. 971.45 crore (over USD 50...
Religare Enterprises Ltd (REL) informed the BSE that it had completed its exit from its Life Insurance Joint Venture (JV), Aegon Religare Life Insurance Company Limited. REL sold its stake in the JV to Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. (BCCL), a Times Group Company and a non-promoter group entity. The total consideration for this transaction was approximately Rs. 971.45 crore (over USD 50 million).
The deal was signed on 8th May, 2015 and completed on 7th December, 2015, following the receipt of all the required regulatory approvals. AZB & Partners advised Aegon (Aegon N.V., Aegon International B.V. and Aegon India Holding B.V.) on its acquisition of 23% equity along with the acquisition by BCCL of 44% equity of the JV company, from BCCL and Religare respectively. The firm’s Partner Darshika Kothari and Senior Associate Arvind Ramesh acted on this deal.
Aegon Religare Life Insurance Company commenced operations in 2008. For the year that ended 31st March, 2015, the JV reported revenue of Rs. 803.09 crore and its net worth as at that date was Rs. 179.15 cr. REL had 44% equity interest in the JV and in line with the relevant Accounting Standards, 44% of the revenue and net worth was reflected in REL’s consolidated financials for FY 2014-15, translating to approximately 8.4% of consolidated revenue and approximately 2% of consolidated net worth of REL.
Following the exit of Religare from the JV, Aegon Religare Life Insurance Company was renamed as Aegon Life Insurance Company Ltd. "The management team of the company will remain unchanged and will stay committed to all its customers, partners and employees with added focus on customer experience through simplification and digitisation," said Aegon Life Insurance Company in a statement on 7th December, 2015.
"All existing policyholders will continue to maintain the benefits with no change in the policy terms and conditions of their policies issued by Aegon Religare Life Insurance Company Ltd," it added. K S Gopalakrishnan, Managing Director and CEO of Aegon Life, said, “Aegon’s global reach, expertise in digital technology and customer analytics coupled with the Times Group’s know-how in the Indian market will give us an edge. Being the first ones to launch an online term plan, we’ll continue to innovate in different products and categories.”
The statement noted that Aegon Life, the new brand, would avoid jargons and would simplify products for the benefit of customers.