LIC shares fall after India’s largest OFS closes with oversubscription on both days
Shares of Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) shed over 1% to Rs 387.60 apiece on the BSE on Thursday, after the government concluded its
Shares of Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) shed over 1% to Rs 387.60 apiece on the BSE on Thursday, after the government concluded its two-day Offer for Sale (OFS), the largest-ever such share sale. The government exercised the greenshoe option to offload an additional 4% stake, taking the total stake sale to 6.5% of LIC’s equity, compared with the base offer size of 2.5%. The floor price for the OFS was set at Rs 382 per share.The issue was oversubscribed on both days, driven by strong participation from retail and institutional investors, allowing the government to exercise the entire greenshoe option and raise Rs 31,552 crore through the OFS.Following the sale, LIC’s public shareholding has risen to 10%, ahead of Sebi’s May 16, 2027 deadline to meet minimum public shareholding norms.The OFS marks one of the government’s largest stake-sale transactions in recent years and comes as public-sector divestments continue to support non-tax receipts.
LIC is also set to announce its Q1 FY27 earnings on Thursday."It has achieved this critical milestone ahead of schedule. A total of 82,23,33,558 shares have been allocated for an amount of Rs 31,552 crore, making it India's largest public offering ever. We thank all the investors for their enthusiastic participation and reposing their faith in us," DIPAM Secretary said in an X (formerly Twitter) post.Also Read | LIC OFS gets strong response from retail investorsPriced at a 10% discount to Monday’s closing price, the OFS received a strong institutional response. With the sale of the entire 6.5% stake, India has moved ahead with its divestment programme, which has a target of Rs 80,000 crore through divestment and asset monetisation in FY27.The transaction also achieves the primary objective of raising public shareholding in LIC to 10%, a commitment made to Sebi at the time of its IPO, when only a 3.5% stake was sold due to the size of the issue.
The government will now not face any deadline to sell further LIC shares and can time future divestment plans based on market conditions.Also Read | LIC's second act smarter price tagOn Tuesday, non-retail investors bid for more than 94.45 crore shares at
an indicative price of Rs 383.84 per share. At this price, the bids were valued at around Rs 36,400 crore. The govt later decided to exercise the oversubscription option for about 50.60 crore shares, representing 4% of LIC’s paid-up equity share capital.
The BriefWire