‘No proposal to merge LIC Housing Finance with any other entity’

MUMBAI: The country’s largest insurer Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) on Monday said that there has been no proposal to merge its subsidiary LIC Housing Finance Ltd (LICHFL) with any other entity.

LIC Housing Finance share price tanked over 12% in the intra-day trade on Monday after a report said its merger with IDBI Bank could be put on the fast track.

The share price of LIC Housing Finance fell 12.32% to Rs 361.3 level compared to the previous close of Rs 412.05 on BSE.“There was absolutely no proposal to merge LICHFL with any other entity and all such rumours floating in the market are not based on facts,” LIC said in a clarification. IDBI Bank in a separate filing clarified that no such proposal has been discussed in its board meeting, the insurance company’s statement added.

IDBI Bank, in which LIC holds 51 per cent stake, had reported widening of its standalone net loss to Rs 5,763.04 crore due to higher bad loans. The lender had posted a net loss of Rs 4,185.48 crore during the corresponding October-December period of the previous fiscal year.The bank witnessed high proportion of bad loans, with gross non-performing assets (NPAs) at 28.72% of the gross advances at end of December 2019, little lower than 29.67% in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal year.

The LICHFL scrip settled down by 7.71 per cent at Rs 380.30. IDBI shares also declined by 2.54 per cent to end at 34.50.

Talk on the street hit shares hard
LIC Housing Finance share price tanked over 12% in the intra-day trade on Monday after a report said its merger with IDBI Bank could be put on the fast track. LIC’s share price fell by 12.32% to I361.3 againstI412.05 on Friday