Insurance regulator IRDAI has approved the divestment of Max India’s entire 51% stake in Max Bupa Health Insurance Company to Fettle Tone LLP, an affiliate of private equity firm True North.
The all-cash transaction announced in February valued Max Bupa at an enterprise value of ₹1,001 crore. An announcement on the IRDAI approval by Max India saw the company’s shares on Tuesday gaining over 8% intraday, before closing 2.68% higher at ₹80.40 apiece.
The stake sale transaction is expected to be concluded within the next few weeks. All existing customer policies will continue unimpacted and all customer support channels will remain unchanged, said Max India, which is a part of the $3.2 billion Max Group.
Bupa, the existing joint venture (JV) partner in Max Bupa, remained committed to the JV and will continue to play an active role as before through its board positions and knowledge-exchange initiatives, the release said. Max Group VP and Max India managing director Mohit Talwar said, “The transaction will lead to a substantial cash inflow for Max India. As a part of our portfolio rebalancing exercise, we intend to utilise part of the proceeds to invest in both existing and new business opportunities.” True North has invested in more than 50 Indian businesses over 20 years through its six investment funds with a total corpus of over $2.9 billion.
