By Nupur Anand, Aftab Ahmed and Sudarshan Varadhan
NEW DELHI (Reuters) -State-run Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) has filed draft papers with the market regulator for what could be the country’s largest initial public offering (IPO).
India’s largest insurer will be selling 316.25 million shares, according to the draft prospectus dated Feb. 13. The filing also stated an embedded value of 5.39 trillion Indian rupees ($71.56 billion).
The IPO is seen as a test of investor appetite for new offerings, with a number of companies that listed last year now trading below their offer prices on concerns over lofty valuations and looming increases to interest rates by global central banks fighting inflationary pressures.
The listing also comes against the backdrop of foreign investors pulling out funds from the domestic market just as the Narendra Modi-led government seeks to meet a sharply trimmed divestment target for the current financial year.
The company said its investment in government securities and T-Bills stood at 61.44 billion Indian rupees at Sept. 30.
($1 = 75.3188 Indian rupees)
(Additional reporting by Chandini Monnappa and Chris Thomas in Bengaluru, Rupam Jain in Mumbai and Manoj Kumar in New DelhiEditing by Andrew Heavens and David Goodman)
