The Life Insurance Corporation IPO which opens on May 4 and closes on May 9 will be listed on the stock exchanges and traded from May 17.

The government is selling over 22.13 crore shares in LIC at a price band of Rs 902-949 a piece. It expects to raise around Rs 21,000 crore from the IPO, which values the state-owned insurer at Rs 6 lakh crore.

Tuhin Kanta Pandey, secretary department of investment and public asset management (Dipam), told reporters that the finance ministry will discuss with market regulator Sebi to exempt LIC from the minimum public shareholding norm.

Under Sebi rules, listed entities with a valuation of over Rs 1 lakh crore need to have at least 25 per cent public shareholding within five years of listing.

The government had last year exempted public sector entities from this norm.

The book running lead managers of LIC on Friday indicated that there is already substantial interest among institutional investors to participate in the IPO of the largest domestic insurance company.

The participation from the anchor investors is expected to be known on Monday, ahead of the offer opening date, which is on May 4.

LIC managing director S. Mohanty said at the road show in Calcutta that even as LIC agents form a mainstay of the business channels of the life insurer, the share of bancassurance is expected to increase over the next 5 years. According to the LIC prospectus, the contribution of bancassurance to new business premium is a little over 3 per cent during 2020-21.

IDBI selloff

Pandey said IDBI Bank’s privatisation process is ongoing and the amount of stake sale will be decided after the road show is complete.

“The quantum of exit will be known post road show and then the structure of EoI will be finalised. One thing is very sure that management control will be passed on Currently, it is with LIC.”

He said the the extent of stake sale for management control will be known when the expression of interest is finalised.

The government may decide to sell its entire stake in one go or in tranches, depending on the investors' response. The government holds a 45.48 per cent stake in the bank, while LIC holds a 49.24 per cent stake.

(With inputs from Calcutta Bureau)