India company buys Tampa firm for $460M

TAMPA — India-based Wipro Ltd. acquired HealthPlan Services, a privately-held Tampa firm that connects health insurance clients to public and private exchanges throughout the United States.

Wipro paid $460 million for HealthPlan Services, according to a release.

HealthPlan Services is one of the largest independent companies that handles sales, benefits administration and technology in the insurance and managed care industries. Last year, it built an online health insurance portal for Tampa-based Suncoast Credit Union.

Jeff Bak, president and CEO of HealthPlan Services and an Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year finalist in 2014, says “the combination creates the first true end-to-end solution in the individual-under-65 commercial market and the governmental-over-65 and Medicaid markets.”

The acquisition will help “lower the cost of healthcare and transform the quality of the member experience,” says Jeffrey Heenan Jalil, Wipro's senior vice president and head of healthcare life sciences and services, in the statement. “The partnership with HealthPlan Services positions Wipro to participate in the shift of the U.S. health insurance industry toward a consumer-centric business model,” Jalil says.

Wipro Ltd. is an IT, consulting and business process services company headquartered in Bengaluru, India. The company has more than 160,000 employees and serves clients in more than 175 cities globally.