Ten banks selected by government to manage LIC IPO

Ten investment banks namely Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, SBI Capital Market, JM Financial, Axis Capital, Nomura, Bofa Securities, JPMorgan India, ICICI Securities and Kotak Mahindra Capital have been selected to manage the initial public offer (IPO) listing of Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC). This is being done to help the government partly meet its budgetary spending plans, Business Standard reported on Saturday. Sixteen banks including seven global and nine domestic banks had been in the race.

The listing is considered to be the country’s biggest-ever IPO, with the government looking to raise Rs 80,000-Rs 90,000 crore from LIC’s stake sale. From its privatisation programme in the current fiscal year, the government is planning to raise Rs 1.75 trillion.

Roadshow to attract investors to be conducted

Alternative Mechanism on Strategic Divestment, a ministerial panel is expected to decide on the size of the stake to be sold. It could be around 10% sold in two tranches. In the current financial year, the government is planning to spend Rs 34.83 trillion, including capital spending of Rs 5.54 trillion.

In the coming months, a roadshow would be conducted in all major global financial centers, where the government would make all efforts to attract retail investors and employees to invest in the company, the publication added.

LIC has a subsidiary in Singapore and joint ventures in Bahrain, Kenya, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Saudi Arabia, and Bangladesh.