LIC (Life Insurance Corporation) IPO has been subscribed 0.84 times so far on the second day of sale with policyholders of LIC and employees of the company oversubscribing their quota already. The largest public issue, worth Rs 21,000 crore, has witnessed a strong response from investors so far. The issue was subscribed 0.67 times on day one. The government of India is looking to trim its stake in the insurance behemoth, offering a 3.5% stake in the company at a fixed price band of Rs 902-949 per share.
Qualified Institutional Buyers (QIB) have subscribed to their portion of the issue 0.34 times by 1 PM on day two of the issue. QIBs have been offered 3,95,31,236 equity shares of which 1,32,55,770 equity shares have been bid for. The majority of the bids have been placed by domestic institutional investors. Non-institutional investors (NII) have bid for 0.34 times to their portion, with investors bidding for 99,66,165 equity shares out of the 2,96,48,427 on offer.
Retail investors have bid for 0.78 times their quota of LIC shares. Bids have been received for 5,38,43,850 equity shares out of 6,91,79,663 equity shares on offer. Meanwhile, policyholders of LIC have subscribed their portion 2.57 times so far and employees of the firm have bid for 1.75 times the portion reserved for them.
LIC IPO is the biggest IPO seen by domestic markets to date, leaving behind One 97 Communication’s (Paytm) IPO which came last year. To attract investors for the issue, primary market timings have been enhanced from 10 AM to 7 PM on all days till the issue remains open. LIC IPO opened for investors on May 4 and will close on May 9 with investors allowed to bid even on Saturday. LIC has also offered various discounts for investors looking to subscribe to the issue. Retail investors and LIC employees are being offered a Rs 45 per share discount while LIC Policyholders will get a discount of Rs 60 per share.
In the unlisted space, LIC shares have been trading at a premium of Rs 65 per share, according to people aware of the grey market. The grey market rates have come down from Rs 90 per share at the beginning of the week. Analysts remain gung-ho about the issue with most brokerage and research firms advising investors to subscribe to the LIC IPO, terming valuations as ‘attractive’.