Warburg-backed insurer Indiafirst Life plans IPO
MUMBAI: Indiafirst Life Insurance Co. Ltd is in talks to hire investment banks to manage its proposed public listing that could see the life insurer raise as much as ₹2,000 crore, said three people aware of the development. “Indiafirst has been engaged in discussions with investment banks over the past couple of months. Banks such as ICICI Securities, Axis Capital and JM Financial and a few more are in the running to pick up the IPO mandate,” one of the three people cited above said.
State-run Bank of Baroda owns the majority 65% stake in Indiafirst, while Union Bank of India holds 9%, and Carmel Point Investments India Pvt. Ltd, a Warburg Pincus-affiliated entity, holds the rest 26% stake.
According to the second person cited above, the proposed initial public offering (IPO) will largely be an offer for sale or a secondary sale of shares by existing investors.
“Bank of Baroda and Union Bank will be the primary sellers in the IPO. Warburg bought its 26% stake in 2019, so they won’t be looking at selling, although they may opt for a small amount of dilution,” the person said. “The IPO size could be as much as ₹2,000 crore, depending on the eventual dilution that the shareholders decided upon, but those numbers are yet to be firmed up, and hence the deal contours could change significantly by the time the firm files its draft prospectus with the regulator,” the person added.
A successful IPO will make Indiafirst the ninth insurer to list on the exchanges. The comresearch pany will follow state-run Life Insurance Corp. of India Ltd, the country’s largest insurer, which started trading on exchanges last month. State-owned General Insurance Corp. of India and New India Assurance Co. Ltd are also publicly traded. ICICI Prudential Life Insurance, HDFC Life Insurance, ICICI Lombard General Insurance, SBI Life Insurance and Star Health and Allied Insurance Co. are the other listed insurers on the domestic bourses.
“Indiafirst Life Insurance is doing well. It is the fastestgrowing life insurance company in the country. Bank of Baroda, our largest shareholder, has expressed their views that the company could list basis timing and opportunity considerations. Anything else at this juncture is merely speculation,” said Rushabh Gandhi, deputy chief executive at Indiafirst, in an emailed response to a query.
The company reported a 28% rise in gross premiums to ₹5,187 crore during the fiscal year ended March.