HDFC WILL ANNOUNCE INSURANCE PARTNER WITHIN THREE WEEKS

India’s Housing Development Finance Corp (HDFC) said that it would announce the name of its new foreign partner within three weeks. HDFC executive director Renu Sud Karnad said that the company was currently negotiating to sell a 26% stake in the joint venture to two players, one from Australia — thought to be IAG — and one from mainland Europe. US-based insurer Chubb quit its minority status with HDFC in May after a five-year partnership, citing irreconcilable differences on the future strategy of the venture. Recently HDFC promised that it would not make the same mistake a second time in its choice of a foreign partner. HDFC paid about Rp320m ($7.91m) to buy out HDFC’s minority stake.