Investment giant Abrdn has sold 43,000,000 shares in India-based HDFC Life Insurance Company on the National Stock Exchange of India and the Bombay Stock Exchange.
The shares were sold at an average price of INR 574.15, which will result in Abrdn Mauritius receiving around INR 24.3bn (£262m, $303m, €302m), net of taxes and expenses.
Abrdn said in a London Stock Exchange announcement that the proceeds will “strengthen the company’s capital resources supporting investment in the business and enabling the company to continue to return capital in excess of business needs”.
The sale constituted 2% of the shares in HDFC Life, with Abrdn Mauritius remaining shareholding in the Indian life insurer now at 1.66%, valued at approximately £227m ($263m, €261m).
The move comes less than a month after Abrdn’s investment management subsidiary sold a £225m stake in HDFC Asset Management Company – amounting to around 6% of its shareholding.
It retained a 10.21% share in the asset management company worth approximately £437m.
Negativity
The divestments in the Indian asset manager and life insurer come at a time of negativity for Abrdn.
The investment giant recently suffered a demotion from the FTSE 100 to the FTSE 250, after suffering more than a 40% drop in its shares, year-to-date. Over the past five years, Abrdn’s shares have suffered a 70% decrease.
The firm also reported a loss of £320m in the first six months of 2022 and decided to shutter a number of strategies in recent months, such as its Eastern European, ASI Emerging Markets Bond and ASI Short Duration Credit funds.
On top of that, Abrdn is also reportedly in talks to offload its private equity arm. Also, the firm is reportedly suffering an exodus of financial advisers from its advice business.
