Govt cuts LIC IPO size to 3.5%, issue to hit markets in May 1st week: Sources
New Delhi, Apr 23: The government is likely to cut the size of the initial public offering of LIC to 3.5 per cent to raise around Rs 21,000 crore from the issue which would hit the capital markets in the first week of the next month.
The government in February had planned to sell a 5 per cent stake in Life Insurance Corporation (LIC). However, the ongoing market volatility due to the Russia-Ukraine war has made it lower the IPO size.
At this price, LIC, which is 100 per cent government-owned, is valued at Rs 6 lakh crore.
LIC is likely to file the red herring prospectus with market regulator Sebi by Wednesday.
"LIC IPO is likely to come to the market in May first week. 3.5 per cent stake dilution, subject to regulatory approval," an official said.
Reservations for policyholders and employees, and discounts, issue dates and issue price will be known by Wednesday, the official added.
In February, LIC had filed draft papers with Sebi wherein it had said that the government will sell 5 per cent stake or 31.6 crore shares in the state-run insurer.
LIC's embedded value, which is a measure of the consolidated shareholders value in an insurance company, was pegged at about Rs 5.4 lakh crore as of September 30, 2021, by international actuarial firm Milliman Advisors.
LIC IPO would contribute a major chunk to the budgeted disinvestment proceeds in the current fiscal.
The government has pegged disinvestment receipts at Rs 65,000 crore in the current fiscal, up from Rs 13,531 crore raised in the last fiscal.
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One person taken into custody after woman found dead in Himachal forest
Nahan (HP) (PTI): A suspect has been taken into custody after a woman's partially burnt body was found in a forest near a police battalion camp in Himachal Pradesh's Sirmour district, police said.
The body of the woman, who is stated to be in her late 30s, was spotted in the dense forest of the Karaunde Wali Ghati area near Dhaula Kuan by locals on Wednesday morning. The identity of the deceased has not yet been established.
The accused in the case was taken into custody at Bata Bridge in Paonta Sahib on Wednesday evening following scanning of the CCTV footage of the area coupled with inputs from Haryana Police, police said.
According to police, the accused is a resident of Barara town in Ambala district of Haryana. A case of kidnapping has already been registered against him in Ambala.
Sirmour District Superintendent of Police Nischint Singh Negi said one person has been taken into custody following contact with Haryana Police.
Postmortem examination of the woman is scheduled to be conducted on Thursday at the Dr. Yashwant Singh Parmar Government Medical College at Nahan.
Police are currently investigating whether the woman was murdered in Barara itself, and if her body was subsequently dumped in the Paonta forest and set on fire.
