HDFC Life Acquired Exide Life for Rs 6687 Crore

In one of the major mergers and acquisition development from the Insurance sector of India, HDFC Life acquired Exide Life in a stock and cash deal at an enterprise of Rs 6,687 crore.

This marks one of the first and the largest acquisitions in the life insurance space.

The 100 per cent acquisition of Exide Life will be through issuance of 8.7 crore shares at an issue price of Rs 685 per share and a cash pay-out of Rs 726 crore.

The company is a wholly-owned subsidiary of battery manufacturer Exide Industries.

"This is a landmark transaction, first of its kind in the Indian life insurance space," said Deepak S Parekh, Chairman of HDFC Life. "It will enhance insurance penetration and further our purpose of providing financial protection to a wider customer base."

Vibha Padalkar, Managing Director and CEO of HDFC Life said this amalgamation can result in value creation for customers, employees, shareholders and distribution partners.

"It gives us an opportunity to realise synergies arising out of complementary business models, and further bolster our proprietary distribution network," she said in a statement.

AZB & Partners acted as the legal advisor to HDFC Life and Trilegal acted as the legal advisor to Exide Life and Exide Industries.

Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India LLP and Rashmi Shah FCA (registered valuer) were appointed as valuers for the transaction by HDFC Life, and Desai Haribhakti & Co, Chartered Accountants and S Sundararaman (registered valuer) were appointed as valuers by Exide Industries.

JM Financial Limited and Ambit Pvt Ltd provided fairness opinions to the Boards of HDFC Life and Exide Industries respectively.