The US-based Liberty Mutual Insurance Group is looking to increase its shareholding in Mumbai-based Liberty Videocon General Insurance to 49 per cent from 26 per cent now, a top official of the Indian insurer said.

“Regulatory approval has been sought from IRDAI recently for this transaction,” Pankaj Arora, Country Head-Retail SBU, Videocon General Insurance, told BusinessLine here.

Liberty Videocon General Insurance, which started operations in 2013, is currently capitalised at ₹680 crore. Any stake hike to 49 per cent is expected to bring in additional ₹300-odd crore into the general insurer and these funds are likely to be utilised for its expansion plans.

Arora said Liberty Mutual’s shareholding increase will take place through fresh issuance of shares by Liberty Videocon General and, therefore, the funds from the transaction will flow into the company.

Eyeing dominance Liberty Videocon General is now eyeing a dominant position in the general insurance industry and wants to be among the top five in the next five years, Arora added.

Towards this end, the general insurer plans to expand its office network, especially in the North, where it has muted presence. The company plans to add another 40 offices — mostly in tier II/III cities — in the next two months, taking its overall tally of offices to about 80 across the country. Plans are afoot to increase the number of offices in the North to 18 in the next few months from six now, Arora said.

“Liberty is committed to India. Our focus is on achieving exponential growth and so the expansion plan on increasing the number of offices,” Arora said.

Liberty Videocon General also plans to hire 500 more employees this fiscal, Arora said.

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