A group of top financial investors and global strategic players have evinced interest in the ongoing sale process of the 26 per cent stake held by Warburg Pincus in private life insurer IndiaFirst Life Insurance, multiple industry sources in the know told Moneycontrol.
The US private equity major is exploring an exit after entering the insurer eight years back. “Britain’s Prudential Plc and French MNC BNP Paribas are in the fray for the deal,” one of the persons above told Moneycontrol.
“ ChrysCapital and Wells Fargo backed Norwest Venture Partners are among the funds who have looked at the asset,” a second person said. A third person added that some of the shortlisted bidders are currently conducting due diligence on the proposed transaction.
According to a fourth person, consortiums between global funds and strategic parties could not be ruled out and the proposed deal structure may change later if required depending on the nature of negotiations. All the four persons above spoke to Moneycontrol on the condition of anonymity.
In response to an email query from Moneycontrol, Warburg Pincus and ChrysCapital declined to comment. When contacted, Prudential Plc said via email , " We dont comment on market rumours and speculation."
Queries mailed to IndiaFirst Life Insurance, Bank of Baroda, Norwest Venture Partners and BNP Paribas Group were left unanswered at the time of publishing this article. Reminders have been sent and this article will be updated as soon as we hear from these firms.
On September 16, Moneycontrol was the first to report that Warburg Pincus had kickstarted the process to explore an exit from IndiaFirst Life Insurance and appointed investment bank Barclays as the sell-side advisor.
The report had added that if the stake sale didn’t fructify, then the IPO option, which was attempted earlier, could be considered at a later stage depending on the strategy of all stakeholders.
Mumbai headquartered IndiaFirst Life Insurance is a 3-way joint venture between lead shareholder Bank of Baroda which holds 65 per cent, Union Bank of India which holds 9 per cent and Carmel Point Investments India Pvt Ltd ( an affiliate of the Warburg Pincus group) which holds the balance stake.
Back in June 2018, Warburg Pincus purchased the stake held by UK’s Legal & General for an undisclosed amount and entered IndiaFirst Life Insurance. A PTI report later pegged the stake purchase value at Rs 710 crore.
Lens on bidders and insurance deals
Prudential Plc (UK) provides life and health insurance and asset management in 24 markets across Asia and Africa.
In March, Prudential announced its plan to establish a joint venture with Vama Sundari Investments (Delhi) Private Limited, an HCL Group’s Promoter Company, to operate a standalone Indian health insurance business.
In India, Prudential’s business primarily consists of a minority 21.9 per cent holding in listed life insurance business, ICICI Prudential Life, and 49 per cent of the asset manager, ICICI Prudential Asset Management Company Limited, through its asset management business Eastspring Investments.
On February 12, Moneycontrol first reported that the British insurer was evaluating a potential listing of ICICI Prudential Asset Management Company Limited. Later it filed papers for a Rs 10,000 crore IPO, slated to be a pure OFS or offer for sale.
ChrysCapital , a leading homegrown private equity firm, recently announced the successful closure of its latest fund, ChrysCapital X, at $2.2 bn on November 5. The development set a new record for the largest private equity fund ever raised by an India focused firm.
Wells Fargo is the institutional limited partner to California headquartered Norwest Venture Partners, a venture and growth equity investment firm. The bets of Norwest Venture Partners in India include insurance broking player Edme Services and numerous NBFC’s like Five Star Finance, Finnova Capital, SK Finance , Vastu Housing and Veritas Finance.
In India, BNP Paribas Group has a presence in the corporate and institutional banking and investment banking segments. The firm also has a mutual fund tie-up with Bank of Baroda and it’s interest in IndiaFirst Life Insurance can be seen as an attempt to diversify into new segments in the BFSI sector.
Recent prominent deals in the insurance space include Bajaj Finserv’s acquisition of Allianz SE’s entire 26 per cent stake in Bajaj Allianz General Insurance and Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance ending a 24-year-old relationship.
In the past, private equity firms like True North, Premji Invest, Kedaara Capital, Westbridge Capital, Madison Capital and ICICI Ventures have bet on the domestic insurance segment.
A closer look at IndiaFirst Life Insurance
IndiaFirst Life Insurance had filed draft papers with Sebi for an IPO in October 2022 and received the regulators nod in March 2023. But the plans did not proceed.
Talking about the firm’s listing plans, the MD and CEO Rushabh Gandhi told Business Standard in August “The IPO was never shelved. It was deferred and that is precisely what the status is as of now. While the last 2 quarters have been encouraging, maintaining consistent growth over the next few quarters will be important. In addition to a stable growth path, limited headwinds, and increased tailwinds, along with supportive market conditions, are necessary for the IPO to be successful. The timing will ultimately be determined by our shareholders.”
As on 31 March 2025, the firm’s new business individual retail premium stood at Rs 1,425 crores & total premium stood at Rs 7,218 crores. As per its website, it services over 16 million customers, has a workforce of ~4,600 and a network of ~22,000 partner branches along with ~115 third party distributors & corporate agents. The firm also has a network of ~1,880 agents which completes its distribution ecosystem, the website says.
Warburg Pincus: The India financial services playbook
Incidentally, this is the third consecutive transaction in the domestic financial services space involving the global investment major in recent months.
The proposed IndiaFirst Life Insurance deal comes at a time when Warburg Pincus is reportedly in talks to sell its 10 per cent stake in SBI General Insurance to SBI and Premji Invest.
In August, it exited portfolio firm Home First Finance in a block trade.
On August 11, Moneycontrol had reported that Warburg Pincus was eyeing a $143 mn clean out trade in Home First Finance.
Last year in May, top Chennai-based retail NBFC Shriram Finance announced the sale of its subsidiary Shriram Housing Finance to Warburg Pincus for Rs 4,630 crore.
On December 14, Moneycontrol was the first to report that the listed parent had revived stake sale plans to unlock value in its housing finance arm.
Post the transaction, Narendra Ostawal , MD, Warburg Pincus told Moneycontrol in an interview “ We have enormous experience of taking over NBFC's and scaling them in partnership with management teams, so for us, it's Deja Vu! We did this in Capital First and we did this in Avanse Financial Services, Vistaar Finance, so ditto!”
The PE firm has paused its IPO plans for education loans financier Avaanse Financial Services due to stricter US visa rules, according to a recent report by Bloomberg.
FAQs
What is the origin of the name “ Warburg Pincus”?
“Warburg” is associated with the prominent European banking family, while “ Pincus” comes from Lionel Pincus who merged with the former in 1966
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