Paytm and its founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma announced on Monday that they are fully acquiring Raheja QBE, a general insurance company.
Raheja QBE is a public sector insurance company owned partly by Prism Johnson and QBe Australia. While Prism Johnson owns 51%, making it the majority stakeholder, QBE Australia owns the rest 49% of the company. It started its operations in 2009 and provides personal, business, and family insurance services. QorQ1, which counts Paytm and its owner as the stakeholders, will acquire 100% of the company for Rs. 568 crores (~$81M).
According to the filings of Prism Johnson, the company will be selling its 51% stake in the company for Rs. 289.68 crores, bringing the value of the total firm to Rs. 568 crores.
Vijay Aggarwal, managing director, Prism Johnson Ltd., said “Our decision to sell our entire stake of 51% in Raheja QBE is in line with our mission to create sustainable shareholder value and will enable us to focus our resources on our core businesses.”
It must be noted that Vijay Shekhar Sharma is the majority stakeholder in the tech company QorQ1, with the entirety of Paytm owning the rest.
All of Raheja’s employees will continue working in the Mumbai and other offices even after the acquisition.
This deal is expected to “democratize general insurance services in the country,” and aims to increase the company’s reach in the insurance market. Through this acquisition, QorQl hopes to roll out affordable and sustainable insurance schemes to the Indian market. Even though India has a low per capita income in comparison, the sheer numbers make the country a fit competitor for any of the world’s biggest insurance markets.
“It is an important milestone in Paytm’s financial services journey and we are very excited to welcome Raheja QBE General Insurance into the Paytm family,” Amit Nayyar, Paytm president, said in a statement. “Its strong management team will help us accelerate our journey of taking insurance to the large population of India with the aim to create a tech-driven, multi-channel general insurance company,” he added.
The deal is supposed to close by March 31, 2021, pending approval from the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI).
