True North-led group to buy Religare Health Insurance for $162m

The consortium, which also includes Faering Capital and Landmark Holdings CEO Gaurav Dalmia, will purchase an 80% stake in the insurance company held by domestic financial services firm Religare Enterprises (REL). In a filing REL said the deal values the business at INR13 billion and is expected to close in the second half of 2017, subject to regulatory approvals.

RHI reported revenue of INR3.2 billion in 2016, representing 5.7% of REL’s consolidated revenue for the year. 

The sale comes as REL seeks to divest its holdings in noncore businesses. In the past it sold majority stakes in US-based private equity firm Landmark Partners and fund-of-funds Northgate Capital. The comany is reportedly also in talks with private equity firms including Bain Capital and TPG Capital to sell a stake in its hospitals business, Fortis Healthcare.

“We have been closely evaluating the health insurance space and have been impressed by the quality of RHI's management team and business,” said Vikram Nirula, partner at True North. “We believe that RHI would be an excellent platform for building an enduring health insurance franchise in India.”

True North was founded in 1999 as India Value Fund Advisors but rebranded earlier this year to more accurately reflect its aspirations. The firm mainly invests in four key sectors of healthcare, financial services, consumer products and services and IT products and services, though it also reserves capital for investments in other promising sectors in hopes of building experience there.

Currently it is investing its fifth India-focused fund, which closed in 2015 at the hard cap of $700 million.

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• Topics
• South Asia
• Financials
• Healthcare
• Buyouts
• PIPEs
• India
• True North
• insurance