Private equity firm Warburg Pincus will invest in US-headquartered Everise in a deal that values the healthcare services outsourcing company around $1 billion and paves the way for the exit of PE firm Everstone Group.
US-based Warburg Pincus joins existing Canadian investor Brookfield, Everise said in a statement Tuesday. Both investors are committed to accelerating the company’s growth trajectory through business expansion and M&A, Everise said. It didn't disclose financial terms of the transaction. The transaction is expected to close by the end of 2023.
The transaction comes a little less than three years after Canadian alternative investment firm Brookfield acquired a majority stake in Everise from Singapore-based Everstone. The deal size wasn't disclosed at the time, but multiple media reports pegged it around $450 million (Rs 3,320 crore then).
Everstone had set up Everise in 2016 in a partnership with Sunrise BPO and its CEO Sudhir Agarwal after acquiring C3, a US-based business process outsourcing platform, from PE firm Stone Point Capital. Agarwal is now Everise’s chief executive officer. Over the years, Everise has evolved into an end-to-end customer services provider to healthcare companies, with over 19,000 employees in eight countries including India and Singapore.
“Warburg Pincus’ deep domain expertise across diverse industries and next-generation technologies, coupled with the institutional knowledge of our trusted partner Brookfield, will contribute substantively to Everise’s next phase of growth in offering strategic customer solutions,” said Agarwal.
The deal expands Warburg Pincus’ exposure to the healthcare sector. The PE firm says it has invested in the sector for over 50 years with investments in healthcare companies such as Ensemble Health Partners, Quantum Health, Alignment Healthcare, Modernizing Medicine, Qualifacts, and ParetoHealth.
The PE firm said Everise presents “an attractive platform” to offer outsourced technology-enabled services services to the global healthcare payer and provider ecosystem and that the company had strong growth prospects.
“We have continued to see strong underlying demand for quality customer experience, driven by an increasing outsourcing trend across the global healthcare industry,” said Viraj Sawhney, Managing Director at Warburg Pincus.
For Everstone, the transaction adds to a string of exits in recent months as it goes about raising its fourth PE fund. The firm last month sold a bulk of its stake in Restaurant Brands Asia Ltd, the master franchisee of fast-food chain Burger King in India and Indonesia, for about $180 million.
In addition, Everstone marked a modest partial exit from shadow lender Indostar Capital in May and earned high returns by selling most of its stake in auto parts maker SJS Enterprises in August. It also exited wellness company VLCC this year and partially logged out of US-headquartered IT services company Acqueon as well as Sahyadri Hospitals late last year.