Access Asset Managers, others to buy 25% stake in Alliance Insurance Brokers

MUMBAI: Private equity firm Access Asset Managers and some other investors will put in Rs 55 crore to acquire 25% stake in Alliance Insurance Brokers, which handles insurance covers for events such as the IPL and other T20 tournaments, as well as big-budget movies.

Alliance Insurance Brokers, co-founded in 2003 by SV Thakkar and Aatur Thakkar with an investment of Rs 50 lakh, places Rs 400 crore of premium annually with insurance companies. Its reinsurance business is around Rs 150 crore a year. The company had a net profit of Rs 5 crore in financial year 2014-15. Alliance provides structured solutions to insurance and reinsurance broking to corporates. It primarily focuses on the business-to-business insurance services and has more than 1,300 clients in 11 Indian cities. It is the insurance broker for the T20 and IPL tournaments this year.

“Alliance operates in a space, which has an extraordinary potential to grow and we are confident of crossing Rs 1,000 crore of premia in three years' time,“ said Chairman SV Thakkar.

Private equity firms have been showing interest in insurance broking business. In February, Narayana Murthy's Catamaran Ventures partnered with UK-based Aon to form a joint venture in broking. Recently, Aon has split its joint venture with Global. The split was announced after the amendment to the Insurance Act, which introduced a clause on arrangement control that would stay with Indian residents.

In 2012, US private equity firm Leap invested Rs 80.4 crore in Mahindra frog Insurance Broking for a 15% stake.

The amendment to the Insurance Act 2015 is expected to shake up joint venture agreements in the insurance sector.