India selects 10 banks to manage Life Insurance Corp IPO (updated)

JM Financial

27/08/2021 13:36

(Adds details)
    By Aftab Ahmed and Manoj Kumar
    NEW DELHI, Aug 27 (Reuters) - India has selected 10
investment banks including Goldman Sachs,  Citigroup and SBI
Capital Market to handle the initial public offering of Life
Insurance Corp of India, two government sources said, in what is
set to be the country's biggest ever IPO. 
    The government expects to raise 800 billion-900 billion
rupees ($11 bln-12.2 bln) from its stake sale in Life Insurance
Corp (LIC), as part of its plans to raise 1.75 trillion rupees
from a privatisation programme in the current fiscal year ending
in March.
    A ministerial panel, called the Alternative Mechanism on
strategic Divestment, is expected to decide soon on the size of
the stake to be sold. It could be around 10%, sold in two
tranches, the two government sources said.
    LIC, India's biggest insurance company with assets of over
34 trillion rupees ($461.4 billion), has a subsidiary in
Singapore and joint ventures in Bahrain, Kenya, Sri Lanka,
Nepal, Saudi Arabia and Bangladesh.
    "The potential size of the IPO is expected to be far larger
than any precedent in Indian markets," one of the sources said,
adding that roadshows would be held in coming months in all
major global financial centres to attract investors. 
    Sixteen banks including seven global banks and nine domestic
bank had been in the race to handle the IPO. 
    The other selected lenders are JM Financial Ltd, Axis
Capital, Nomura, BofA Securities, J.P. Morgan India Pvt Ltd,
ICICI Securities and Kotak Mahindra, said the source, who
declined to be identified as he was not authorised to speak to
the media.
    JP Morgan, Citigroup, BofA and Goldman Sachs declined to
comment, while Nomura, JM Finance, Axis, Kotak and others were
not immediately available for a comment. 
    A finance ministry spokesman was not immediately available
for comment. 
    The government would make all efforts to attract retail
investors and employees to invest in the company, one of the
sources said. 

($1 = 73.7450 Indian rupees)

 (Reporting by Aftab Ahmed and Manoj Kumar in NEW DELHI, Nupur
Anand in MUMBAI and Scott Murdoch in HONG KONG ; editing by
Jason Neely and Susan Fenton)
 ((manoj.kumar@thomsonreuters.com; +91(11) 49548029;))