LIC IPO downsized: Size, price, value all see big cuts

LIC IPO latest news: On February 15, the headlines hit that India's largest insurer Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) is stepping into the market as the government filed the DRHP for its IPO. But a lot changed between then and now which has made the govt bite the bullet and accept the changed realities for what was once touted as the mega game-changing IPO. LIC IPO is now cut to size in price and value. Here is what changed:

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While the market regulator screened LIC IPO DRHP the global reality changed with the Ukraine invasion of Russia and war taking centre stage. Just 48 hours before the DRHP was approved by SEBI the market took a jab to the chin falling below the 16,000 and the scope of recovery seemed bleak with a raging war and inflation escalation.

So now biting the bullet, the govt has accepted the market reality and trimmed down the IPO size for LIC. North Block had expected to raise Rs 60,000–65,000 crore by selling a 5% stake in the insurer, which has now been reworked to a 3.5% stake sale with hopes of gathering only a third of the earlier amount, Rs 21,000 crore. The price tag thus has also moved down to sub-Rs 1,000/share vs the earlier bets of Rs 2,000+ which had pushed the grey market to reflect a discount and not a premium for the mega IPO.

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As per reports, the government has now valued LIC at Rs 6 lakh crore—1.1 times the embedded value of Rs 5.4 lakh crore. This is much lower than the valuation of already listed life insurance companies such as SBI Life, ICICI Prudential and HDFC Life, which were listed at three to four times their embedded value—a valuation method to measure life insurance companies.