Tatas, Birlas, Premji vie for Star Health & Allied Insurance stake

MUMBAI: Tata Capital, Aditya Birla Private Equity and PremjiInvest are vying for an under 10% stake in India's first stand-alone health insurer , Star Health & Allied Insurance.

The private equity arms of India's leading conglomerates might value the six-year-old insurance outfit at almost Rs 2,000 crore, said people familiar with the matter . The Chennai-based insurer , headed by industry veteran V Jagannathan, will issue fresh shares worth Rs 150 crore to the preferred suitor , they added.

Star Health and Allied Insurance already has a varied shareholder base with the likes of Middle East's construction giant ETA, Oman Insurance, Sequoia Capital and ICICI Venture as its investors . The company plans to go public in the near future.

Star Health CMD Jagannathan was unavailable for immediate comments.

For Tata and Aditya Birla groups, a deal in Star Health will increase their exposure in the insurance sector, having floated their own life and general insurance ventures. While for Azim Premji, Star Health would mark the software czar's maiden investment in the insurance space.

Star Health collected Rs 116 crore as premium in the September quarter and hopes to achieve a premium income of Rs 1,000 crore in the fiscal 2013. Private equity investors have been chasing deal opportunities in India's banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) sector, which have been receiving good investments.

In the third quarter of this year, it attracted $200 million from 12 deals, data from researcher Venture Intelligence showed.