After Canara Robeco, Canara HSBC Life files IPO papers with SEBI

Canara HSBC Life Insurance Company, the subsidiary of state-owned Canara Bank, filed for an initial public offering (IPO), draft papers showed on Tuesday, April 29, with its existing shareholders looking to sell their stake.

The insurance company, which manages over ₹40,000 crore in assets, did not detail the size or timing of the IPO but said it will not issue fresh shares.

Canara HSBC's IPO will be a pure offer for sale (OFS), where Canara Bank, HSBC Insurance and Punjab Bank will be selling up to 23.75 crore shares. Since it's an OFS, the company will not received any proceeds from the issue.

Canara Bank will sell up to 13.77 crore shares via the listing, while HSBC Insurance (Asia-Pacific) Holdings will offload 0.47 crore shares. Punjab Bank plans to sell up to 9.5 crore shares.

Canara HSBC Life Insurance Company is a joint venture promoted by Canara Bank, which owns a 51% stake, and HSBC Group's HSBC Insurance (Asia Pacific) Holdings, which holds 26%.

SBI Capital Markets, PNB Paribas, HSBC Securities & Capital Markets India, JM Financial and Motilal Oswal Investment Advisors are the lead managers for the deal.

Canara HSBC Life Insurance Company reported a profit after tax of ₹113 crore in fiscal year ended March 2024, 24.3% higher than the year earlier, its draft prospectus showed. Revenue, however, was marginally lower by 1% over the same period. It is yet to report results for fiscal 2025.

This is the second IPO by a Canara Bank-backed company in recent times, following last week's filing by Canara Robeco Asset Management Company.

Following Canara Bank's third quarter earnings, the lender's Managing Director K Satyanarayana Raju in an analyst call had said that the bank had already proposed a disinvestment in Canara Robeco and Canara HSBC Insurance Co. "We are expecting that both the companies may come with their IPOs in the next financial year," Raju had said.

The draft papers were filed at a time when the IPO market is staring at a slowdown owing to volatility in the equity market.

Shares of Canara Bank Ltd are off high's, currently trading 0.85% higher at ₹99.29.