Bajaj Allianz Life seeks buyout opportunities

Mumbai:

Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance

is looking at

acquisition

opportunities to grow its business. “We are looking at good inorganic opportunities given that we have shareholder funds of over Rs 8,000 crore,” said

Tarun Chugh

, MD & CEO, Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance. He said that by “good opportunity” he meant a company with strong distribution network, a strong track record or

bancassurance

partnership.

What sets Bajaj Allianz Life apart from other insurance companies is the high level of capitalisation. Bajaj Allianz’s net worth of Rs 8,476 crore is seven times the capital infused. With profits being ploughed back, the company has not seen any capital infusion after FY2008. The company has been extremely profitable and made profits of over Rs 4,900 crore over the last five years. During the current fiscal, the company has also crossed a milestone of Rs 50,000 crore of

assets under management

.

The company has a solvency ratio of 582% as on March 31, 2017. In addition, the insurer has a fund of Rs 2,232 crore forming part of shareholders investments. The rise in assets under management (

AUM

) has been on the back of a strong growth in unit-linked insurance plans which now account for more than two thirds of premium for Bajaj Allianz Life. The company recently launched

Future Wealth Gain

, a unit-linked endowment plan with guaranteed loyalty additions. “The product provides our customers the flexibility to choose from eight funds covering both equity and debt asset classes for investment. This launch coincides with our company’s achievement of crossing Rs 50,000-crore asset under management recently,” Chugh said.

Chugh recently joined Bajaj Allianz as CEO. Prior to this, he was heading

PNB MetLife Insurance

. This joint venture was being driven by the US insurer. Insurance companies where the business was driven by the foreign partners received a setback in late 2015, following new laws that required insurance companies to be under Indian management and control.

Bajaj Allianz is a joint venture between

Bajaj Finserv

and German insurer Allianz with shareholding in the ratio of 74:26. Allianz had not hiked shareholding following a dispute with the Indian properties over valuation. There have been reports that the German insurer is looking to exit. Chugh, however, refused to comment on the issue saying that it was a matter for the shareholders.