India's HDFC Standard Life Insurance Co. Ltd. obtained approval from the Securities and Exchange Board of India for its IPO, Press Trust of India reported Oct. 16.

The insurance company filed draft papers with the regulator in August and received the latter's "observations" Oct. 13, according to a SEBI document obtained by S&P Global Market Intelligence.

Through the IPO, the insurer's major shareholders, Housing Development Finance Corp. Ltd. and U.K.-based Standard Life Aberdeen Plc, will divest shares in the insurer.

Housing Development Finance will off-load 191,246,050 shares, or a 9.55% stake, while Standard Life, through its unit Standard Life (Mauritius Holdings) 2006 Ltd., will sell up to 108,581,768 shares, or a 5.42% stake.

The offer also includes a proposed reservation of up to 29,982,781 shares for eligible HDFC shareholders, up to 2,144,520 shares for eligible HDFC Standard Life employees and 805,000 shares for eligible employees of Housing Development Finance.

The IPO is expected to be worth 75 billion Indian rupees, the report added, citing banking sources.

Morgan Stanley India Co. Private Ltd., HDFC Bank Ltd., Credit Suisse Securities (India) Private Ltd., CLSA India Private Ltd., Nomura Financial Advisory and Securities (India) Private Ltd. are serving as the global coordinators, while Edelweiss Financial Services Ltd., Haitong Securities India Private Ltd., IDFC Bank Ltd., IIFL Holdings Ltd. and UBS Securities India Private Ltd. are the book-running lead managers for the IPO.

As of Oct. 16, US$1 was equivalent to 64.72 Indian rupees.