Max Financial Services hit a new 52-week high today at Rs.514.40, briefly breaching the 20% UC. It has since then cooled down a bit and is now at Rs.498, up over 16%. Volumes have jumped up 9 times.

Max Life, which is a JV between Max Financial (68.01% stake) and Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance (26%), has zoomed up high on unconfirmed news that HDFC Standard Life Insurance could take over Max Life. The boards of HDFC Life and Max Financial are expected to meet in Mumbai to discuss the possible mega merger. There is no official statement yet from either of the companies.  

If this does go through, it will go on to create the largest private sector insurance company in India. The structure could take some serious accounting tactics as the holdings are pretty complex. Apart from the JV of Max, HDFC Standard is a JV between HDFC Ltd (61%) and Standard Life (35%).

HDFC Life has got plans to go public and the IPO is expected in the second half of FY17.