Star Health and Allied Insurance Co. Ltd has received as many as 12 bids from interested parties, including financial as well as strategic investors, to acquire the business from private equity investors, two people aware of the development said.
Investors who have submitted bids include homegrown PE fund Kedaara Capital Advisors LLP; PremjiInvest, the private investment arm of Wipro chairman Azim Premji; Singapore’s Temasek Holdings Pvt. Ltd; Carlyle Group; Bain Capital LP; Warburg Pincus LLC, and strategic investors such as HDFC Ergo General Insurance Co. Ltd, ICICI Lombard General Insurance Co. Ltd and Hero FinCorp Ltd, among others, one of the two people cited above said, requesting anonymity.
Kotak Investment Bank has been hired by investors to find a suitable buyer. “There are bids submitted in the range of $850 million-$1 billion (Rs5,400-6,400crore),” said the first person cited above.
Star Health Investments Pvt. Ltd, the promoter of Star Health and Allied Insurance Co. Ltd, which owns close to 40% of the insurance firm, joins other investors such as ICICI Venture Fund Management Co. Ltd and Sequoia Capital in trying to sell their investments in Star Health and Allied Insurance.
