India's Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) on Tuesday fixed a price band of ₹902-949 a share for its ₹21,000-crore initial public offering (IPO), according to reports. The LIC IPO price band has been fixed with ₹60 discount for policyholders and ₹45 discount for retail investors and employees. The government is looking to sell a 3.5% stake in the state-owned insurance behemoth and the IPO will open on 2 May for anchors and for other investors from 4 to 9 May. The issue size is expected to be worth ₹21,000 crore, valuing the country's largest insurer at ₹6 lakh crore.
The Centre had earlier planned to hold the public issue before 31 March this year, but delayed the move after the breakout of the Russia-Ukraine war. The insurance giant has reportedly reserved 2.21 crore shares or 10% of the issue size for its policyholders while 15 lakh shares for employees. After policyholders and share holders' reservations, the remaining shares will be allocated in the ratio of 50% for qualified institutional buyers (QIB), 35% for retail investors and 15% for non-institutional investors.60% of the QIB portion has been reserved for anchor investors. LIC management and the investment bankers will embark on road shows in six cities across India – including Mumbai, New Delhi, Bengaluru, Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Kolkata – where they will be meeting potential investors and analysts starting on Wednesday.The road shows are likely to be concluded by the end of this week. In the last two years with the coronavirus pandemic, physical road shows had come to a grinding halt but now with infections down the management has decided to re-start the process.