An Australian insurance giant is considering the sale of part of its stake in an insurance joint venture with India’s largest lender, ahead of a proposed initial share sale of the local general insurer.

Established in 2010, SBI General Insurance is jointly owned by Insurance Australia Group (IAG), which holds 26% of the business, and State Bank of India (SBI), which owns 74%.

Two people directly aware of the development said IAG has already started preliminary talks to hire an investment bank to manage the sale process, and that it will likely sell its stake in multiple tranches – before a proposed SBI General Insurance initial public offering, during the IPO, and possibly more over a period of time, LiveMint reported.

Both IAG and SBI didn’t offer comment on the stake sale plans.

This development follows a 4% stake sale in the insurance company by SBI to Axis Asset Management and Premji Invest in September, LiveMint reported.