LIC IPO: On Day 1, overall subscription at 67% | Key updates

Life Insurance Corporation’s (LIC) public offer, the country’s biggest-ever IPO, saw the policyholders’ portion being oversubscribed on the first day itself on Wednesday, though overall subscription stood at 67 per cent, even as a surprise rate hike by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) roiled markets.

The government aims to generate about ₹21,000 crore by selling 3.5 per cent stake in the insurance behemoth.

Here are top developments: 

>The portion set aside for policyholders was subscribed 1.99 times at the end of bidding on Wednesday, employees by 1.17 times and retail investors by 0.6 times.

>The LIC has fixed the price band at ₹902-949 per equity share for the issue. The offer includes a reservation for eligible employees and policyholders. 

>The retail investors and eligible employees will get a discount of ₹45 per equity share, while policyholders will get a discount of ₹60.

>The offer received bids for 10,86,45,360 shares against the offered 16,20,78,067 equity shares (excluding shares offered to anchor investors), as per data available on the bourses at 7 pm.

>LIC shares were trading in the “grey” market at a premium of 95 rupees, around 1,044 rupees apiece.

>The share sale is through an offer-for-sale (OFS) of up to 22.13 crore equity shares. The shares are likely to be listed on May 17.

>The government had initially wanted to list LIC in the financial year that ended March 31 but chose to delay the sale after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the US Federal Reserve’s interest rate hikes triggered a market rout.

>LIC’s initial public offering (IPO), open for retail and institutional investors, is set to close on May 9. The issue period also includes bidding on Saturday, May 7.

(With inputs from PTI, Reuters)