ICICI Lombard, Bharti AXA General in merger talks

ICICI Lombard is all poised to acquire Bharti AXA General in an all stocks deal worth over Rs 2,500 crore, said the sources.

When contacted, both ICICI Lombard and Bharti AXA General did not respond.

The proposed merger may be announced in the days to come. However, any such merger requires requisite regulatory, government and judicial approvals, and the entire process may take at least a year to complete, the sources added.

Sunil Mittal-led Bharti Enterprises has a majority stake of 51 per cent in Bharti AXA General Insurance, while French insurance giant AXA has 49 per cent.

If the merger process gets through, the sources pointed out, both Bharti and AXA shall exit their non-life insurance businesses.

Recently, Bharti AXA General won Rs 800 crore worth insurance mandate from the Maharashtra and Karnataka governments to insure farmers under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana.

ICICI Lombard, which commands a market share of 8.4 per cent, recorded a 29 per cent rise in net profit in the April-June quarter of FY2020-2021, according to the IRDA.

Notably, non-life insurance companies posted a 6 per cent drop in premium collections in the Covid-19 and lockdown-hit first quarter of this fiscal.