Tuesday, March 11, 2008

HDFC May List Key Subsidiaries

HDFC Standard Life is worth Rs 3000 crore, of which HDFC owns 76 per cent and even as chairman of HDFC, Deepak Parekh, looks to offload further to its partners, an initial public offering (IPO) is clearly on cards. They plan to list HDFC''s asset management business by end of this year or first quarter next year and the life insurance company a few months after that,said Parekh. On the Asset Management Company (AMC) front, HDFC''s owns 63 per cent business in a company worth Rs 4,000 crore, with Standard Investments holding the rest. As long as you leave something on the table which we always do, investors would want a quality product at any time.

Going by the valuations, AMC stake sales have showed recently Parekh''s company too may have a good ride. Based on the deals in the recent past, AMCs are now valued over 10 per cent of their Assets Under Management (AUM) than just 4-5 per cent of their assets as done earlier. For ICICI and HFDC chiefs competition goes beyond just the institutions they manage. It is now about the bankers themselves and how they unlock value for the shareholder. The recent buyout of Centurion bank is an example of how HDFC is now in a fresh strategy to scale up and Deepak Parekh is clear, despite the criticism on CBoP merger, it will bear fruits in the medium term. The first move in that direction for the bank will be to move away from personal loans to corporate growth. Having sold 26 per cent for Rs 235 crore in its general insurance business to Germany''s ERGO International, HDFC''s has kicked off what will be a serious exercise in unlocking value.

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