New Delhi:
The Finance Ministry on Thursday said it is planning to come out with a share sale offer of two recently listed insurance companies — GIC and New India Assurance.
State-owned reinsurer General Insurance Corporation of India (GIC) was listed on the bourses in October last year, while New India Assurance Company Ltd made its stock market debut in November last year.
The Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) Thursday invited expression of interest (EoI) from merchant bankers and selling brokers for managing the offer for sale (OFS) of GIC and New India Assurance.
Merchant bankers, who can bid singly or as a consortium, can apply for assisting the government in the stake sale process by December 7, 2018, said the EoI floated by DIPAM.
General insurer New India Assurance had raised Rs 96 billion in the initial public offer (IPO) and had priced its shares at Rs 770-800 a piece.
At 1515 hours, shares of New India Assurance were trading at Rs 220.20 apiece, up 0.30 per cent over the last close on the BSE.
Reinsurance company GIC has fixed the price band at Rs 855-912 for its IPO last year, through which it raised Rs 113.7 billion.
Shares of GIC were trading at Rs 309.75, down 0.21 per cent over the previous close on the BSE.
So far in the current financial year, the government has raised over Rs 152 billion through PSU stake sale. The budgeted disinvestment target for the financial year is Rs 800 billion.