Singapore sovereign wealth fund Temasek, asset management firm First Sentier Investors (formerly known as First State Investments), Fidelity Management & Research (FMR), Franklin Templeton Group and Amansa Group are among investors that are likely to participate in the anchor book portion of the Niva Bupa Health Insurance IPO, multiple industry sources told Moneycontrol on the condition of anonymity.
This is the first instance of a pure-play global MNC insurer (British health insurance and healthcare player Bupa) backed listing in India and the issuer's IPO valuation on a post-money basis stands at Rs 13,500 crore.
The promoters hold 89.07 percent shareholding in Niva Bupa Health Insurance including Bupa Singapore Holdings Pte's 62.19 percent stake, and Fettle Tone LLP's (an entity belonging to homegrown PE firm True North) 26.80 percent stake.
"Nippon MF, Axis MF, Tata MF and homegrown investment fund A91 Partners are some of the other investors that are keen to be part of the anchor book," one of the persons above said.
Email queries sent to True North remained unanswered at the time of going to press. Temasek, Axis MF and First Sentier Investors declined to comment.
When contacted, a Bupa spokesperson said, "Niva Bupa Health Insurance Company Limited, the Indian health insurer which is part of the Bupa Group, has filed a Red Herring Prospectus with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (“SEBI”) for a proposed initial public offering. In accordance with the regulations governing the offering, we are unable to comment further on the process or the timings."
Moneycontrol could not elicit an immediate comment from the rest of the parties. This article will be updated as soon as we hear from them.
The anchor book of the Rs 2,200-crore issue will open on November 6, while the issue will start for subscription on November 7 and close on November 11. The private health insurer has set a price band of Rs 70-74 a share for its initial public offering.
The IPO is a combination of fresh issue of Rs 800 crore and an offer-for-sale of Rs 1,400 crore worth of shares by promoters.
The book running lead managers that are handling the issue are ICICI Securities, Morgan Stanley India Company, Kotak Mahindra Capital Company, Axis Capital, HDFC Bank, and Motilal Oswal Investment Advisors.
Four years after picking up a majority stake from Max in Max Bupa Health Insurance (later Niva Bupa Health Insurance), True North ceded control to JV partner Bupa in September 2023 by agreeing to sell a 20 percent stake to the British firm for around Rs 2,700 crore. Incidentally, the stake sale also valued the firm back then at Rs 13,500 crore.
ALSO READ: Niva Bupa grew 4x in 4 years; may attempt IPO in 15 months, says True North's Divya Sehgal
Earlier this year, Canada's Fairfax Group (engaged in property, casualty insurance, reinsurance, investment management) backed Go Digit general insurance listed on the stock exchanges on May 23.
More about Niva Bupa Health
The Gurugram-based health insurance company will utilise Rs 800 crore out of the net fresh issue proceeds towards augmentation of its capital base to maintain and strengthen its solvency levels by investing in instruments.
Bupa Singapore Holdings Pte and Fettle Tone LLP will sell Rs 350 crore and Rs 1,050 crore worth shares in the offer-for-sale, respectively.
Niva Bupa Health Insurance is one of India’s largest standalone health insurers (SAHI) based on overall health GDPI (gross direct premium income) of Rs 5,494.43 crore in fiscal 2024. Its overall gross written premium (GWP) grew at a CAGR of 41.27 percent and GWP from retail health grew at a CAGR of 33.41 percent during FY22-FY24, while its GWP in the quarter ended June 2024 increased by 30.84 percent over the same period previous fiscal.
It had a market share of 17.29 percent in the Indian SAHI market in the current fiscal 2025, increasing from 16.24 percent in the previous fiscal 2024, based on retail health GDPI.
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