Shares of ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company on Wednesday finished with gains of up to 1 per cent amid reports that Bharti Enterprises may sell its entire stake in the insurer.

During the quarter ended December 31, 2021, Bharti Enterprises held 1.82 crore shares in the insurer translating to an equity stake of 3.73 per cent.

Shares of ICICI Lombard on Wednesday closed at Rs 1,219.20 — a rise of Rs 7.90

or 0.65 per cent over the previous close on the BSE.

Based on this closing price, the value of Bharti’s stake is Rs 2,223 crore.

A CNBC-TV18 report on Wednesday said Bharti may sell its entire stake in ICICI Lombard through a block deal in the early part of the next week.

In August 2020, ICICI Lombard had announced that it is acquiring Bharti Enterprises-promoted Bharti AXA General Insurance in an all-stock deal consequent to which shareholders of Bharti AXA received two shares of ICICI Lombard for every 115 shares held by them.

The share-exchange ratio was recommended by independent valuers and then accepted by the respective boards of ICICI Lombard and Bharti AXA.

Bharti Enterprises held 51 per cent stake in Bharti AXA General Insurance, while French insurer AXA had 49 per cent.

The companies had then said that following the transaction, Bharti AXA General Insurance will cease to be a going concern and both Bharti Enterprises and AXA will exit the non-life business. Later in September 2021 sectoral regulator IRDAI had given its approval for the deal.

ICICI Bank currently holds 48.05 per cent in ICICI Lombard which has a market capitalisation of almost Rs 60,000 crore. During the third quarter ended December 31, 2021, the general insurer saw its net profit rising 1.2 per cent to rs 318 crore as compared to Rs 314 crore in the year ago period. During the quarter, its gross direct premium income inched up to Rs 4699 crore from Rs 4034 crore.