ADIA eyeing minority stake in Aditya Birla’s health insurance arm: Report
Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) is in talks with Aditya Birla Group for an investment of nearly Rs 1,200-1,500 crore in its health insurance arm as growth equity, the Economic Times reported on Monday.
The discussions for ADIA taking a minority stake in Aditya Birla Health Insurance Co Ltd (ABHICL) are ongoing and expected to gain pace in the coming weeks, people aware of the matter told ET.
The final amount and quantum of stake are not finalised yet, the report said.
Based in South Africa, ABHICL is a 51:49 per cent joint venture between Aditya Birla Group and MMI Holdings. The firm was incorporated in 2015 as a standalone health insurance company and started operations in October 2016.
According to IRDAI, ABHICL is one of five active standalone health insurance companies with a 14 per cent market share of the gross underwritten premium in Q1FY22, ET reported.
This comes as ADIA, one of the major sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) in the world, is looking to double down in India’s fast-growing financial services space, ET said. The Abu Dhabi firm last month bought a 20 per cent minority stake in IIFL’s home finance arm for Rs 2,200 crore.
ADIA has also taken bets on various leading listed banks and NBFCs, such as HDFC Bank, Reliance Capital, Kotak Mahindra Bank, and KKR India Financial Services.
Meanwhile, ABHICL’s total insurance premium collection in FY22 increased by 33 per cent to Rs 1,470 crore, out of which, 66 per cent was from retail segment.
The firm, present in over 2,800 cities through branches and partner offices, claims to cover 18 million lives, including 14 million through micro insurance products.
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