LIC IPO to open for the public from 4th to 9th of May

Life Insurance Corporation of India's (LIC's) Initial Public Offering will open on May 4, 2022, for public subscription and close on May 9, 2022. LIC IPO will list on the share markets on May 17, 2022.

LIC, the country's largest life insurer, has fixed the price band of Rs 902 to 949 per Equity Share for its maiden public offer. Investors can bid for a minimum of 15 Equity Shares and in multiples of 15 Equity Shares thereafter. The government is looking to raise up to Rs 21,000 crore by selling a 3.5% stake in the nation's biggest life insurer.

The LIC has offered a discount of Rs 45 per Equity Share to Retail and Eligible Employee Category and Rs 60 per Equity Share to Policyholder Category. The Floor Price is 90.2 times the face value of the Equity Share and the Cap Price is 94.9 times the face value of the Equity Share.

With this IPO, which is through an offer-for-sale (OFS) route, the government is looking to divest its 3.5 per cent stake in the insurer by selling 22.13 crore shares.

Secretary in the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management, Tuhin Kanta Pandey, has said that the LIC IPO is going to be the biggest public offering in the country. He said, it is the government's commitment of wider public participation in government ownership.

On the occasion, Secretary, Department of Financial Services Sanjay Malhotra said the LIC has 30 crore policyholders.

Book Running Lead Manager for the issue are Kotak Mahindra Capital Company Limited, Axis Capital Limited, BofA Securities India Limited, Citigroup Global Markets India Private Limited, JM Financial Limited, Goldman Sachs (India) Securities Pvt. Ltd., ICICI Securities Limited, J.P. Morgan India Private Limited, Nomura Financial Advisory and Securities (India) Private Limited and SBI Capital Markets Limited. KFin Technologies Private Limited (formerly known as Karvy Fintech Private Limited) is the registrar for the issue.

The proceeds from the stake sale after deducting expenses and taxes will be paid to the government—the selling shareholder. LIC expects that the proposed listing of its equity shares will enhance its visibility and brand image.

LIC has been offering life insurance in India for more than 65 years and is the largest life insurer in India. The insurer had a 61.6% market share in terms of premiums (or GWP), a 61.4% market share in terms of New Business Premium (or NBP), a 71.8% market share in terms of the number of individual policies issued, an 88.8% market share in terms of a number of group policies issued for the nine months ended December 31, 2021, as well as by the number of individual agents, which comprised 55% of all individual agents in India as at December 31, 2021. (Source: the CRISIL Report).

According to a Crisil report, LIC is ranked fifth globally by life insurance gross written premium and tenth by total assets. The state-run company was the largest asset manager in India as of December.

The behemoth was recognised as the third-strongest and tenth most valuable global insurance brand in the 'Insurance 100 2021 report' released by Brand Finance.