The listing of LIC is set to be India’s biggest ever IPO, with the government aiming to raise up to Rs 90,000 cr
Indian government is considering allowing foreign institutional investment of up to 20% in Life Insurance Corporation, according to a government source, reported Reuters on Wednesday.
The listing of LIC is set to be India’s biggest ever IPO, with the government aiming to raise up to Rs 90,000 crore ($12.24 billion) from its stake sale. In all, the government plans to raise Rs 1.75 trillion from its privatisation programme in the current fiscal year ending in March.
Goldman Sachs Group Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and ICICI Securities Ltd. were among 10 investment banks picked to work on Life Insurance Corp. of India’s initial public offering, in what’s set be the nation’s biggest listing, Bloomberg reported last month.
Kotak Mahindra Capital Co., JM Financial Ltd., Citigroup Inc. and Nomura Holdings Inc. were also selected to work on the share sale that’s slated for early next year, after 16 investment banks presented their pitches to the government, people with knowledge of the matter said, asking not to be identified because the information isn’t public.
Banks will start engaging with investors from September, with a potential listing expected between January and March next year, one of the people told Bloomberg.
The roadshows would be held in the coming months in all major global financial centres to attract investors and the government would make all efforts to attract retail investors and employees to invest in the company, one of the sources told Reuters recently.
LIC, with assets of over Rs 34 trillion ($461.4 billion), has a subsidiary in Singapore and joint ventures in Bahrain, Kenya, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Saudi Arabia and Bangladesh.
The government has recently again floated a request for proposal (RFP) to appoint a legal advisor to assist the LIC IPO as the first tender failed to receive adequate response from law firms.
In the revised RFP, the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) has specified that the time limit for validity of the financial bids shall be three years implying that the law firm will assist LIC and the government for three years from the time of placing the bid. The previous bid document had stated bidders cannot prescribe any time limit for validity of the financial bid, keeping the timeline of their work open-ended.
The timeline has been introduced to precisely define the scope of work of legal advisors.
Law firms will have to submit their bids by September 16. The bids will be opened the next day, and the selected intermediary would be intimated.
