Star Health gets new owner

WestBridge Capital and Madison Capital a consortium of private equity firms have teamed up with Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, a well known investor to acquire private health insurer Star Health in a deal estimated at around Rs 6,500 crore. Safecrop Holdings Pvt Ltd – the consortium – has signed definitive agreements with the shareholders of Star Health & Allied Insurance Company Ltd to acquire their shares in the insurer. The transaction is subject to regulatory and certain other approvals. Kotak Investment Banking, Evercore and Mizuho Securities (Singapore) acted as the financial advisers to Star Health and its shareholders. Star Health is the largest private health insurance company in terms of premium with a market share of 10.6 per cent as on March 31, 2018. The company has a direct premium of Rs 4,161 crore for the year ended March 31, 2018, a growth of 41 per cent over the preceding year. During the year, it posted a net profit of Rs 171 crore and has a net worth of Rs 960 crore. “We have started from a humble beginning and have come to this level with an excellent team work. We feel new investors, with their abundance experience and golden touch, will enable the company to scale further heights,” V. Jagannathan, chairman and managing director of StarHealth, said. “We are excited about Star Health, a dominant market leader in the retail health insurance industry. We believe the retail health insurance industry will continue to grow at a healthy pace in the coming decade, driven by increasing penetration. This aligns well with WestBridge’s investing philosophy,” Jagannathan said.