Samara Capital planning to buy Aditya Birla Capital’s insurance broking arm: Report

Amazon India’s private equity partner, Samara Capital is planning to buy the insurance broking arm of Aditya Birla Capital Ltd, according to a report by Livemint.

“Over the past few weeks, Samara Capital and Aditya Birla Capital (the promoter of Aditya Birla Insurance Brokers Ltd) have been negotiating the valuation. For Samara, entering the financial services business is a crucial part of its strategy,” Livemint reported, quoting sources.

The deal is estimated to be worth between Rs 800 crore and Rs 1,000 crore, as per the report. If the deal goes through, it could become one of the biggest deals in the sector.

Last week, Bloomberg reported that Aditya Birla Capital was considering selling its insurance brokerage unit to restructure its financial services business.

“The publicly-traded company has held talks with potential buyers about a sale of Aditya Birla Insurance Brokers Ltd. as it failed to scale up the 19-year-old business,” the Bloomberg reported quoting sources.

The company plans to close the transaction by March 31, according to the Bloomberg report.

Samara Capital was founded in 2007 and has made an investment of over $1 billion since its inception. According to the corporation, its investors include family offices and high quality institutional investors around the globe.The broking arm of Aditya Birla Capital offers broking and advisory services to companies and individuals, along with reinsurance solutions to insurers. It has more than 350 people working across eleven locations in India.