Minister of Finance Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday review the progress of planned investment from the largest insurance company in the country.
The initial public offering (IPO) of the Life Insurance Corporation (LIC), is said to be the largest in the history of the country, is expected to regard the market in March.
“The Minister of Finance of the Union SMT. @NSitharaman reviewing the progress of the IPO in New Delhi today in the presence of @Secydipam; Secretary @dfs_india and senior official @LicindiaForever and @FinMinindia via VC,” Ministry of Finance tweeted.
LIC IPO is very important to meet the Target Target Disinvestment Crore Rs 1.75-Lakh for current fiscal (April-March).
So far this fiscal, Rs 9,330 Crore has been cleaned through PSU disinvestment.
The government in September last year appointed 10 trader bankers, including Goldman Sachs (India) Securities Pvt Ltd, Citigroup Global Markets India Pvt Ltd and Nomura Financial Advisory and Securities (India) PVT Ltd to manage Mega IPO from the country’s largest insurance company.
Other selected bankers include SBI Capital Market Ltd, JM Financial Ltd, Axis Capital Ltd, Bofa Securities, J. P. Morgan India Pvt Ltd, ICICI Securities Ltd., and Mahindra Capital Box Co. Ltd.
Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas has been appointed as a legal counsel for the IPO.
The government is in the process of determining the quantum of government pegs that will divest through the IPO.
The government also contemplates to allow foreign investors to take bets in LIC.
According to SBI rules, foreign portfolio investors (FPI) are permitted to buy shares in public offers.
However, since LIC Law has no provisions for foreign investment, there is a need to harmonize the LIC IPO proposed with SEBI norms regarding foreign investor participation.
The Cabinet Committee in Economic Affairs in July last year was cleaned by LIC.
