MUMBAI: ICICI Lombard General Insurance Co Ltd is planning to raise up to Rs 5,700 crore via an IPO, which will begin next Friday.
Once it goes public, ICICI Lombard will emerge as the country’s first non-life insurer to get listed and also the second insurer to be traded on bourses across the industry. Its sister firm ICICI Prudential is the only other publicly-listed insurer among the 50-odd players. It currently has about 8.4 per cent market in the general insurance industry and about 18 per cent among private non-life insurers.
ICICI Lombard has set a price band of Rs 651 to Rs 661 per share and will see stakeholders ICICI Bank Ltd and Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd offload 86.24 million shares.
While ICICI Bank will sell 31.76 million shares raising roughly Rs 2,099.40 crore (in the upper band), Fairfax will divest 54.48 million shares mopping up approximately Rs 3,601.50 crore. Percentage-wise, this translates to 19 per cent stake – 7.15 per cent of ICICI Bank and 12.27 per cent of Farifax.
“In a short span, ICICI Lombard has grown to be the fourth largest general insurer in Asia and we believe the sector has significant potential,” said Chanda Kochhar, chairperson, ICICI Lombard.
Founded in 2001, its product composition includes motor, which comprises a lion’s share of 42 per cent, followed by health and personal accident cover, crop/weather insurance, and property insurance besides others.
The company appointed Bank of America Merrill Lynch, ICICI Securities, IIFL Holdings, CLSA India, Edelweiss Financial Services and JM Financial Institutional Securities to manage the share sale.
Several other insurance companies, including state-run New India Assurance and General Insurance Corporation of India are likely to hit the capital markets shortly. Among private players, HDFC Life and SBI Life may soon launch their initial public offering, according to reports.