India considers seeking $6.6b from mega LIC IPO
If successful, LIC would surpass Paytm as India’s biggest IPO of all time
Mumbai: India is considering seeking around Rs500 billion ($6.6 billion) next month from the initial public offering of state-owned Life Insurance Corp., people with knowledge of the matter said.
The government is discussing selling as much as a 7 per cent stake in LIC through the listing, according to the people, who asked not to be identified because the information is private. It aims to launch the share sale before current approvals for the offering expire on May 12, the people said.
If successful, the insurance firm would surpass digital payments startup Paytm as India’s biggest IPO of all time, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The offering of One 97 Communications ltd., the operator of Paytm, raised about Rs183 billion in November last year.
The government and its advisers are considering seeking a valuation of about 1.25 to 1.5 times LIC’s embedded value, the people said. Officials are still discussing potential terms of the offering, and the fund-raising target could still change, the people said.
A representative for LIC declined to comment.