Zurich Insurance to buy 70% stake in Kotak arm upfront in amended deal

BENGALURU (Reuters) - Zurich Insurance Group will buy a 70% stake in Kotak Mahindra Bank's general insurance arm by paying 55.60 billion rupees (nearly $671 million) upfront instead of staggering the purchase as planned last year, the Indian lender said on Friday.

Under the original deal, announced in November last year, Zurich was to buy a 51% stake in the Kotak unit for 40.51 billion rupees and an additional 19% holding within three years of the first purchase.

The deal will be the largest investment by a global insurer in a non-life insurer in the Indian market.

The change in the deal's terms will not affect Kotak General's valuation, which was 79.43 billion rupees according to the filing from November 2023.

Kotak Mahindra Bank said the other terms of the transaction remain unchanged.

($1 = 82.8720 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Varun Vyas in Bengaluru; Editing by Tasim Zahid)