Wipro buys US healthcare services arm for $460 million

Global software major Wipro on Thursday announced buying a healthcare services business in the US for $460 million (Rs.3,150 crore).

"We have signed an agreement to acquire HealthPlan Services from Water Street Healthcare Partners, a strategic investor, for providing business process as a service in the US health insurance market," the company said in a statement here.

As a leading technology and back office provider since partnering with Water Street in 2008, the Florida-based HealthPlan offers health insurance products through its proprietary technology platform and connects its payer clients to 40 public exchanges and 150 private exchanges across the US. It employs about 2,000 people.

The transaction is aligned with Wipro's growth levers, which are set to dominate the services market through industry utilities that multiple customers can use.

"HealthPlan strengthens our position in the health insurance exchange market while offering synergies with our presence in the managed medicare and commercial group insurance markets," Wipro healthcare life sciences and services head Jeffrey Heenan Jalil said in the statement.

By partnering with HealthPlan, Wipro will have first-mover advantage in the high growth public and private exchange space for individual, group and ancillary markets.

The acquisition process is likely to be completed within the next three months.