*Star Health and Allied Insurance Company* has raised around $100 mn from 4 PE investors led by *ICICI Venture* by divesting 40% stake. * Carlyle Growth Fund* and *Sequoia Capital* are the other 2 funds who participated in this round of funding. The identity of the fourth investor is not yet known but it is believed to be either *Standard Chartered PE* or the *Manipal grou*p.
ICICI Venture has invested from its new *India Advantage Fund 3* The foreign firms will hold about 26% in the venture, with the Indian fund holding the remaining. India’s insurance regulations prohibit foreigners from owning more than 26% in an insurance venture. *MAPE Advisory Group* was the adviser to Star Health and *E&Y* conducted the due diligence for the funds. Transaction Note Star Health is a JV between *Oman Insurance Company*, *ETA Ascon group* (a business conglomerate in West Asia) and insurance professionals in India. It started its operations in 2006 and is focused only on health insurance. Star Health also runs primary care clinics through its entity, *Star Health and Medical Tourism*. The company had increased its share capital to Rs 138 crore from the mandatory Rs 100 crore within two years of operation. The deal values Star Health at around Rs 1,125 crore. In FY09, Star Health reported a net profit of Rs 7 cr on a premium income of Rs 512 cr. This is the first PE investment in the insurance sector. The only recent comparable would be the deal where *Hemendra Kothari *bought 11.5% stake in *ING Vysya Life Insurance Ltd* from *Ambuja Cements* in February. However, with other players like Reliance Life, ICICI Prudential and HDFC Standard Life, wanting to divest their stake through private placement and IPOs, we may see more such deals in the future. ICICI Venture's India Advantage Fund Series 3 raised $350 mn in December 2009 from domestic investors The new fund follows the $810-mn India Advantage Fund Series 2, which was capped at $583 mn. The first of the series raised $245 mn. According to IRDA, health insurance premium collections touched US$ 1.45 bn in 2008-09 compared with US$ 1.12 bn. Business Standard<http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/icici-venture-taps-health-insurance-sector/390246/>reports that the Indian health insurance industry has grown at an annual rate of over 35 per cent since the opening of the sector in the year 2000. But the market is yet significantly under-penetrated in comparison with other countries. Per capita private health insurance in India is estimated at $1.1 in comparison with $2,300 in the US or $63 in Brazil. -- Regards Hardik Shah -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups ""GLOBAL SPECULATORS"" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/globalspeculators?hl=en.
