India’s state-run insurance behemoth gets lackluster listing at discount price

MUMBAI, May 17– India’s state-run life insurance company had a lackluster listing at 8.6 percent discount to its offer price on the bourses on Tuesday. The Life Insurance Corporation of India, the country’s largest life insurance company, made its debut on the stock exchanges at a price of 11.2 U.S. dollars per share against the offer price of 12.3 dollars per…

MUMBAI, May 17 (Xinhua) — India’s state-run life insurance company had a lackluster listing at 8.6 percent discount to its offer price on the bourses on Tuesday.

The Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), the country’s largest life insurance company, made its debut on the stock exchanges at a price of 11.2 U.S. dollars per share against the offer price of 12.3 dollars per share.

The stock ended the first day of trading at 11.3 dollars, down 1 dollar, or 8.04 percent. It has touched an intraday high of 11.9 dollars and an intraday low of 11.1 dollars per share.

The listing made LIC the fifth most valued Indian listed entity with a market capitalization of 73.7 billion dollars after Reliance Industries, TCS, HDFC Bank and Infosys Ltd.

“As observed, the majority of big IPOs have not given a strong listing debut gain. Considering previous trends, LIC has continued to take the same path on its listing day,” said Mohit Nigam of Hem Securities, a domestic stock brokerage.

Nigam said that personal savings and awareness regarding insurance will increasingly enable the sector to outperform in the long run and will indirectly benefit LIC as it is the market leader in this sector.

Long term investors should continue to hold the scrip while short-term investors can wait to enter at a lower price, Nigam added.

The 2.7-billion-dollar blockbuster initial public offering of LIC had witnessed good response from the investors getting subscribed 2.95 times after a marathon six-day subscription period from May 4 to May 9. Enditem