Once Hinduja Global's Prized Jewel, Sagility India Debuts At Nearly Double The Valuation

Hinduja Global Solutions announced divestment of its healthcare services business to Baring Private Equity Asia for nearly Rs 9,000 crore in August 2021 to unlock value for all HGS stakeholders. The healthcare firm eventually came to be known as Sagility a year later.

Post this, the Swedish private equity firm EQT acquired the Hong Kong-based Baring Private Equity Asia to take control of the Bengaluru-based Sagility India.

After three years and three months of the announcement, the market capitalisation of the technology-enabled, pure-play healthcare firm has surged as much as Rs 15,400 crore after the stock rose 6% following its muted listing on the National Stock Exchange.

“Our healthcare services business has steadily grown over the years," Partha DeSarkar, global chief executive officer at Hinduja Global, said during the divestment announcement. "We reached a stage where we could recommend to the promoter to divest stake in this business to unlock value for all HGS stakeholders.”

Hinduja Group said it used its funds to strategically invest in the future growth of the organisation. "HGS will continue to focus on aggressively expanding its CES (consumer engagement solutions) and digital businesses in line with our goal to transform itself into a ‘digitally-enabled customer experience’ company,” he said.

The stake sale will "unlock significant value" for the shareholders and is a recognition of the path-breaking work that HGS has been doing in the last two decades, Y M Kale, chairman, Hinduja Global Solutions said earlier.

The Bengaluru-based company's initial public offering was entirely an offer-for-sale of 70.22 crore shares. Promoter Sagility B V will offload stocks worth Rs 2,106.60 crore at the upper end of the price band.

The maiden issue was subscribed 3.2 times on the third and final day of bidding, led by demand from retail investors. The objective of the initial share-sale is to gain the advantages of listing the equity shares on stock exchanges, the company stated.

The company provides technology-driven services to both payers (US health insurance companies, which finance and reimburse the cost of health services), and providers.

ICICI Securities, IIFL Securities, Jefferies India, and JPMorgan India were the book-running lead managers to the issue.

Sagility's revenue from operations during fiscal 2024 rose 12.7% to Rs 4,753.56 crore against Rs 4,218.41 crore a year ago, according to the red-herring prospectus. Net profit soared 50% to Rs 228.2 crore from Rs 143.5 crore in the preceding year.