HONG KONG (Reuters) - HDFC Standard Life Insurance, a joint venture between India's HDFC (>> Housing Development Finance Corp Ltd) and Britain's Standard Life Plc (>> Standard Life Plc), is set to mandate four banks to manage a planned initial public offering worth up to $500 million (344 million pounds), IFR reported on Thursday, citing people close to the deal.

HDFC Life, as India's third-largest private-sector life insurer is known, will tap Citigroup, JPMorgan, Kotak Investment Banking and Morgan Stanley to handle the listing, expected to take place later this year, added IFR, a Thomson Reuters publication.

HDFC Life, JPMorgan, Kotak Investment Banking and Morgan Stanley didn't immediately reply to a Reuters request for comment on the listing. Citigroup declined to comment.

(Reporting by S. Anuradha of IFR; Additional reporting by Devidutta Tripathy in Mumbai; Writing by Elzio Barreto)

Stocks treated in this article : Housing Development Finance Corp Ltd, Standard Life Plc