LIC IPO, India’s Biggest IPO Ever, Has Opened Today! Important Facts You Should Know..

The country’s largest life insurer, the state-owned Life Insurance Company (LIC) is all set to launch its initial public offer on May 4, i.e., tomorrow.

The highly awaited IPO launch was due in March 2022, before the last financial year FY22 came to an end so that the government could meet its FY22 disinvestment target. 

However, due to the high volatility in the domestic and global markets, put in place by the Russia-Ukraine war, the LIC IPO launch had to be pushed to FY23. 

The government will finally roll out the IPO tomorrow, and here’s everything you need to know about the mega stake sale, as LIC’s IPO will be the biggest IPO in the Indian capital market.

LIC IPO: Everything You Need to Know

The country’s largest life insurer LIC’s public listing will be launched on May 4 and people can subscribe for it until May 9, or Monday.

The price band for the IPO is set from Rs 902-949 apiece of face value Rs 10/share. Anchor investors have already booked the issue as it got oversubscribed with bids of over Rs 7,000 crore. Anchor investing had already opened starting May 2.

The Indian government holds 100% stake in the insurer and through the IPO, it will sell 3.5% of its stake held. The Centre is willing to generate about Rs 21,000 crore at the upper end of the price band.

The entire IPO would be an offer-for-sale or OFS, wherein the Govt will sell 221,374,920 equity shares of the company.

Of these shares put up for sale, up to 15.81 lakh shares are reserved for the employees of the insurer and 22,137,492 shares are reserved for its policyholders.

Itis to be noted that LIC has offered a discount of Rs 60 to its eligible policyholders, and a Rs 45 discount will be given to employees and retail investors.

Investors can bid for a minimum lot size of 15 shares and thereafter, in multiples of 15. 

Sources suggest that a retail investor can apply for no more than 14 lots of shares, meaning 210 shares, costing Rs 1,99,290. The retail investors, LIC employees and policyholders cannot place bids exceeding Rs 2 lakh.