Singapore state investment firm Temasek and Indian mid-market private equity firm A91 Partners have doubled down on their earlier bets on Niva Bupa Health Insurance Co Ltd.
Temasek and A91 invested in the insurer as part of the company’s anchor allotment ahead of its initial public offering, which began on Thursday and will close on Nov. 11.
Niva Bupa, known earlier as Max Bupa Health Insurance Company, raised Rs 990 crore from the anchor investors by selling shares at the upper end of the price band of Rs 70-74 apiece.
Temasek invested nearly Rs 100 crore while A91 invested Rs 115 crore as part of the anchor book.
Other anchor investors that participated include Singapore’s Amansa Group (Rs 125 crore) and First Sentier Investors (Rs 72.67 crore). Apart from these, other institutional investors like Nippon Life, Tata Mutual Fund, Axis Mutual Fund, and Morgan Stanley also came on board as anchor investors.
Temasek
Temasek’s fresh investment comes a year after it invested Rs 300 crore in Niva Bupa. This was part of a larger transaction that involved the insurer raising Rs 800 crore from Temasek, SBI Life Insurance and Indian private equity firms Motilal Oswal Alternates and Paragon Partners.
The anchor investment effectively means that Temasek has invested Rs 400 crore into Niva Bupa thus far.
Temasek owned a 2.6% stake in the insurer before the IPO; this would increase after accounting for the fresh investment.
A91
A91’s previous investment into Niva Bupa came just last month when it picked up a 1.03% stake for Rs 150 crore. A91 bought the shares from Indian PE firm True North.
True North had first picked up a stake of nearly 56% in Niva Bupa in February 2019. In 2023, it offloaded a 21% stake to its British joint venture partner Bupa plc for Rs 2,711 crore, giving the latter a controlling stake in the insurer.
The IPO
The total size of the Niva Bupa Health Insurance IPO is Rs 2,200 crore. The issue is a combination of fresh issue of 10.81 crore shares aggregating to Rs 800 crore and an offer for sale of 18.92 crore shares aggregating to Rs 1,400 crore.
True North, along with Indian PE firm Faering Capital, is selling shares worth Rs 1,050 crore in the IPO. Bupa plc is divesting shares worth Rs 350 crore.