MUMBAI: Apis Partners and ICICI Venture acquired a 15% stake in Star Health & Allied Insurance for Rs 315 crore, valuing the company at Rs 2,100 crore. The Chennai-based standalone health insurer had hired MAPE Advisory Group to find a buyer for a small stake.
Star Health is a joint venture among ICICI Venture, Sequoia Capital, Tata Capital Growth Fund, Alpha TC Holdings and Oman Insurance Company. After this round, ICICI Ventures will own about 20% of the insurer.
“We have raised this money to meet solvency requirement and grow our business as we are growing at 32-35% y-o-y,” said Chairman V Jagannathan. The company, founded in 2006, had seen its solvency margin slip below the regulatory requirement of 1.5 times. It had since raised around Rs 250 crore to meet the required solvency margin.
Last year, its gross written premium income expanded 32%, faster than the industry growth of 13%. Health insurance business accounts for about a quarter of the total non-life insurance business in the country.
Coverage of the insurance industry has grown at a steady pace since non-state companies were allowed in 2000. “Star Health is India’s first and leading stand-alone health insurance company in a country where less than 3% of the population has purchased individual and family health cover,” said Apis Partners Managing Partner Matteo Stefanel. The company has a capital base of Rs 651 crore.
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Source: Economic Times
