Ideal Insurance Brokers is taking the acquisition route to grow and expand its geographical presence. The Kolkata-based firm has just completed the purchase of Govind Consultancy and Narnolia Insurance Brokers to boost its portfolio.
“We are looking to scale up. We are raising funds for more such acquisitions,” Rahul Agarwal, founder-cum chief executive of Ideal Insurance Brokers, told ET.
The insurance management firm is looking to raise $10 million (about Rs 70-80 crore) this year.
The company is talking to individual investors, family houses and venture capital players for equity funding. The CEO is expecting to get soft commitment from investors this month.
Earlier in 2018, the firm had acquired Emkay Global Financial Services’ insurance business as part of the expansion strategy.
The acquisition of Narnolia’s insurance business was done in a cash deal. The acquisition of Govind Consultancy, a Delhi-based insurance intermediary firm, was through a share swap deal.
The Insurance Regulatory & Development Authority approved both acquisitions last month.
The Ranchi-based Narnolia group had earlier sold its stock broking business to Motilal Oswal Securities.
“With these two acquisitions, we could expand our footprint in these two geographies,” said Agarwal. Ideal aims to spread across 100 cities in two years’ time and is hiring people towards this endeavour.
Incorporated in 2005, Ideal sells third-party insurance products. About 95% of its business is in the non-life segment.
“Selling insurance is a relationship management play. We are dominant in the small and medium enterprise space,” the CEO of the Rs 220 crore company said.
The proposed capital raising would also help it to develop its digital platform—121policy.com.
“We would also like to explore the opportunities available in the life insurance segment. We are in the process of building a separate team for this and looking to recruit someone to head this vertical,” Agarwal said.
