SBI Life, India’s largest private life insurer, initial public offering (IPO) has been subscribed 3.58 times when the exercise closed recently, with investors bidding for 315.4 million shares against the 88.2 million shares on offer.
The most enthusiasm for the shares was shown by institutional investors who bid for 266.3 million shares against their quota of 21.2 million shares.
High net worth individuals on the other hand bid for 11.1 million shares against the 15.9 million shares reserved for them, bidding 0.7 times. Retail investors bid for nearly 0.85 times or 31.4 million shares of the 37.1 million shares reserved. Employees, who had two million shares reserved for them, bid for 2.08 million shares. SBI shareholders, who had 12 million reserved shares, bid for 4.54 million shares.
SBI Life planned to raise around INR84bn (USD$1.3bn) from the IPO. The company set a price band of INR685-700 per share.
The insurer was established as a joint venture between the State Bank of India, the country's biggest bank, and BNP Paribas Cardif in 2001. The bank sold 80 million equity shares while its French partner sold 40 million. The offer constitutes 12 percent of the post-IPO equity share capital.
