Reality bites

27 Apr 2022 By Jennifer Hughes Follow @JennHughes13

New Delhi has had to slash the price of state-owned insurer LIC by some two-thirds after pushback from potential shareholders. That leaves the company valued at a big discount to rivals and is a blow to the government’s pride plus its coffers. But it’s a welcome dose of realism.

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Life Insurance Corp of India is pricing its initial public offering at just over a third of the value mooted when the state-backed giant first filed its draft prospectus in February, according to filings cited by Reuters.

The deal will raise up to $2.7 billion for the government and value the company at about $78 billion, down from $221 billion.

Raising a minimum of $2.6 billion will make it India’s largest-ever float in dollar terms, just exceeding the $2.5 billion raised by One97 Communications, parent of financial super-app Paytm, in November.

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