The initial public offering, or IPO, of the Life Insurance Corporation was subscribed 67% on Wednesday, data from the Bombay Stock Exchange showed. The initial public offering of India’s biggest insurer opened for subscription at 10 am today and will close on May 9.
Investors had made bids for 10,44,20,535 equity shares against the 16,20,78,067 shares offered for subscription.
The subscription quota reserved for policyholders of the LIC was oversubscribed by 1.90 times, the data showed. It had received bids for 4,20,49,740 shares against 2,21,37,492 shares on offer.
An initial public offering is a process in which private companies offer shares to the public by issuing new stocks. At the end of the IPO process, the company gets listed on the stock exchange and is allowed to raise capital from public investors.
The price band for the IPO is fixed between Rs 902 to Rs 949 per equity share. Investors can invest in the IPO in a bid lot size of 15 equity shares, and multiples thereafter. The company has offered a discount of Rs 60 per share for its policyholders and Rs 45 apiece for retail investors and LIC employees.
The company had previously allowed subscriptions for anchor investors from May 2. Anchor investors are institutional investors who are allotted shares in a company ahead of its IPO.
On Tuesday, LIC said that it had raised Rs 5,627 crore from anchor investors, The Economic Times reported. It said as many as 59.3 million shares were allotted to anchor investors at Rs 949 each, the upper band of the IPO.
Market experts believe that the IPO could be oversubscribed by retail investors.
“LIC IPO looks appealing because it has a large market share and a good distribution network of agents,” the founder and director of Proficient Equities, Manoj Dalmia, said, according to Moneycontrol.
The Union government hopes to raise Rs 21,000 crore through the public offer. It said that the LIC IPO could be India’s largest ever. The state-owned company is likely to be listed on stock exchanges on May 17.
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