LIC Press Conference Today On Mega IPO: What To Expect

LIC IPO: LIC presser to confirm IPO details; Launch date, timelines, price band, etc.

Written by
NDTV Profit Desk
Written by

NDTV Profit Desk

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The long-awaited IPO of the 66-year old insurance behemoth would open on May 2 for anchor investors and from May 4 to May 9 for the general public, government sources said on Tuesday.
India's most significant public issue will be in the price band of ₹ 902-949, with a Rs 60 discount to policyholders and a Rs 45 discount for retail investors and employees, the sources had added.
The employee reservation portion was not expected to exceed 5 per cent of the post-offer equity share capital, and the policyholder reservation portion was not to exceed 10 per cent of the offer size.
On Saturday, the LIC board approved a cut in its IPO issue size to 3.5 per cent from 5 per cent, sources had said. The government is now expected to sell 3.5 per cent of its stake in LIC for ₹ 21,000 crore, valuing the insurance behemoth at 6 lakh crore.
The sources said depending on the demand and subscription; there is an option for the government to increase the stake offer to 5 per cent, in which case the state's coffer will garner ₹ 30,000 crore from the sale of its equity.
But the drastic lowering of ambitions for the IPO would be a setback for the government and challenge its fiscal balances as the disinvestment was positioned and aimed at replenishing the state's coffers.
Whether the final offer is a stake sale of 3.5 per cent for ₹ 21,000 crore or 5 per cent for ₹ 30,000 crore, LIC's IPO will be India's largest ever.
Indeed, the public issue size at the lowered Rs 21,000 crore will be larger than the amount mobilised from the IPO of Paytm in 2021 - which is currently the biggest ever at Rs 18,300 crore, followed by Coal India (2010) at nearly Rs 15,500 crore and Reliance Power (2008) at Rs 11,700 crore.
Previously, the government was expecting to garner over Rs 60,000 crore by selling about 31.6 crore or 5 per cent stake in the life insurance firm to meet the curtailed disinvestment target of Rs 78,000 crore in 2021-22.
The stake sale was initially planned to be launched in March 2022, but the Russia-Ukraine crisis derailed those plans as stock markets were highly volatile. The government currently has time until May 12 to launch LIC's IPO without filing fresh papers.