Bank of Baroda is considering a sale of some of the minority stakes it holds in its insurance and asset-management ventures, according to people familiar with the matter.
The Mumbai-based bank is seeking to pare its 44% stake in IndiaFirst Life Insurance Co. and the 49% stake in Baroda Pioneer Asset Management Co. They didn’t give a time frame for executing the sales.
Any sale would help the 109-year-old bank helmed by chief executive officer (CEO) P.S. Jayakumar free up capital to bolster its balance sheet. The lender would be joining larger rivals like State Bank of India (SBI) and ICICI Bank Ltd in divesting stakes in units or ventures to buttress themselves against mounting bad debt in India.
