MUMBAI: Niva Bupa Health Insurance Company, which was earlier known as Max Bupa, has filed the papers with the markets watchdog the Securities and Exchange Board (Sebi) for a Rs 3,000-crore primary issue.
The standalone health insurer has filed the draft red herring prospectus with Sebi, it said in a statement.
The IPO consists of fresh issuance of Rs 800 crore and an offer for sale of up to Rs 2,200 crore by the promoters and external investors, the statement said, adding the selling shareholders in the offer for sale include up to Rs 320 crore by Bupa Singapore Holdings, and up to Rs 1,880 crore by another external investor Fettle Tone.
The company is also planning up to Rs 160 crore in a pre-IPO placement. If such placement is completed, the fresh issue size will be reduced, it added.
The company intends to utilise Rs 625 crore from the fresh issue to augment its capital base for strengthening the solvency levels and for general corporate purposes.
Niva Bupa is one of largest and fastest growing standalone retail health insurer, with a gross direct written premium of Rs 5,499.43 crore in fiscal 2024 up 37.68 per cent from Rs 4,073 crore in fiscal 2023, and had a market share among the standalone players of 16.24 per cent. As of March 2024, it has insured 14.73 million lives.
Its net tax rose 553 per cent from Rs 12.54 crore in fiscal 2023 to Rs 81.85 crore in fiscal 2024.
The health insurer has a diversified channel mix with corporate agents (banks and others), individual agents and broker channels contributing 27.25 per cent, 32.07 per cent and 27.04 per cent respectively of their business in fiscal 2024, compared to over 50 per cent contribution of the individual agents channel to for the overall industry, according to the DRHP.
Bupa Singapore Holdings and Bupa Investments Overseas are the promoters of Niva Bupa and is the only domestic health insurers having a majority stake in a foreign healthcare group. Established in 1947, Bupa is an international healthcare organisation serving over 50 million customers worldwide, as of December 2023.
As of March 2024 with over 1,43,074 agents, Niva Bupa has 210 physical branches across 26 states. It also distributes products through 64 banks and other corporate agents.