GIC may buy out 40% pie of Soros-Chatterjee

NEW DELHI: General Insurance Corporation (GIC) is likely to buy out 40 per cent stake held by Soros-Chatterjee Group in its mutual fund arm.
"Soros-Chatterjee''s SC Management Company of US wants to quit GIC Asset Management Company. We may be buying out their stake," GIC Managing Director P B Ramanujan said.
He, however, added that the board of directors is yet to take a final decision on this issue.
GIC Mutual Fund was set up in December 1990 by the PSU general insurers and the Asset Management Company was incorporated in May 1993 with an equity of Rs 20 crore in line with Sebi norms.
GIC and its four erstwhile arms -- New India Assurance, Oriental Insurance, National Insurance and United India Insurance-- have 49.5 per cent stake in GIC AMC.
GIC Housing Finance has 10.5 per cent and SC Management the balance 40 per cent in the AMC.
Although it could not be ascertained why Soros Chatterjee wants to exit the mutual fund joint venture, Ramanujan said the fund''s overall performance was impressive.
"Except three equity schemes, the fund was doing well," he said. The performance of three equity-linked schemes including GIC Rise 91 and GIC Rise-II, was below expectation mainly on account of the dismal equity market conditions.
GIC Mutual Fund has an investor base of over 2.7 lakh and manages 10 domestic schemes and an offshore fund. The AMC has redeemed five close ended schemes including GIC Rise 91 and GIC Rise-II a few years ago.
Ramanujan also ruled out possibilities of GIC''s exiting the mutual fund business by selling it other prospective players like LIC.