LIC IPO: Grey market premium crashes 111% ahead of listing next week

The price of Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) share in the unlisted market or the grey market premium (GMP) has crashed 111 per cent in the last 10 trading sessions. The GMP which stood at Rs 85 on May 3 fell to minus Rs 10 today, signaling a 111.76 per cent crash since May 3.

The IPO opened on May 4 and closed on May 9. During the last three sessions, the GMP of the IPO has remained stuck at minus Rs 10 level, according to IPO Watch.

The shares of the insurer were allotted to bidders on May 12. The stock is likely to be listed on BSE and NSE on May 17.

The IPO was subscribed 2.95 times on the final day (May 9). The share sale received bids for over 47.83 crore (47,83,67,010) shares against the total issue size of over 16.20 crore (16,20,78,067) shares. While portion for policyholders was subscribed 6.1 times, the employee's portion was booked 4.4 times.

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It received total bids of Rs 45,379 crore against the offering of Rs 15,391 crore.

On May 2, the insurer opened the issue for anchor investors. LIC collected Rs 5,620 crore from anchor investors, signaling strong interest ahead of the share sale. Norwegian wealth fund Norges Bank Investment Management and the Government of Singapore were among the subscribers to the anchor book.

Besides other global funds, domestic mutual fund houses such as HDFC Mutual Fund, SBI, ICICI and Kotak also participated in the anchor issue of LIC. Over 20 investors had expressed interest in subscribing to the anchor book, according to reports.

The state-run insurer had reserved 59.29 million shares for anchor investors.

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Anchor investors are institutional investors who subscribe to an IPO before the issue opens to public. Usually, anchor investors invest in an issue a day before the opening of the IPO. They are required to bid for the shares within the price band for the IPO. Each anchor investor is required to invest a minimum of Rs 10 crore during the issue.

Meanwhile, the government has raised Rs 20,557 crore from the IPO. The IPO has been priced at the top-end of indicated range at Rs 949. The price band of the IPO was Rs 902- Rs 949.

The government has offloaded 3.5 per cent stake or 22,13,74,920 shares in the insurer through the IPO. Stake of the government, which stood at 100 per cent before the issue has been trimmed to 96.50 per cent after the IPO.