Nippon Life-Reliance Capital deal gets Sebi approval

New Delhi: Japanese financial services giant Nippon Life has got markets regulator Sebi's nod for raising its stake in Reliance Mutual Fund to 49 per cent, completing the regulatory approval process for the deal.

The company today received approval from Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) for increasing Nippon Life Insurance's stake from existing 35 per cent to 49 per cent, Reliance Capital Asset Management (RCAM) said in a statement.

The company had already received approval from Competition Commission of India for this stake sale.

Following the approvals, Reliance Capital Asset Management will change its Reliance Nippon Life Asset Management, the statement said.

It added, Nippon Life Insurance would also become the co-sponsor in Reliance Mutual Fund, along with Reliance Capital, post the completion of stake sale.

"We are thankful to the regulators for granting their approvals to this stake sale and will be completing the transaction in next few days," Reliance Capital ED and Group CEO Sam Ghosh said.

The Japan-based firm already holds 26 per cent stake in RCAM, which it had acquired for Rs 1,450 crore in 2012 while valuing the company at Rs 5,600 crore at that time.

As per the deal, Nippon Life Insurance Company in February acquired 9 per cent additional stake of Reliance Capital Asset Management Limited (RCAM) for about Rs 657 crore.

The Japanese company will now be investing an aggregate value of Rs 1,196 crore to acquire an additional 14 per cent stake in Reliance Capital Asset Management, in tranches, to reach a 49 per cent stake, the statement said.

RCAM runs Reliance MF and is part of Anil Ambani-led Reliance Group's financial services arm, Reliance Capital.

Nippon Life manages over USD 500 billion (Rs 30 lakh crore) in assets, highest in the world for any life insurer.

RCAM is the largest asset manager in India, in terms of Asset Under Management, managing Rs 2,61,424 crore (US$ 39.6 billion) as on December 31, 2015 across mutual funds, pension funds, managed accounts and offshore funds.

The deal was entered between the parties in November, last year.