ICICI Lombard General Insurance makes lackluster debut on stock market, shares list at 2 percent below IPO price

ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company made a tepid debut on the stock markets with the shares getting listed at Rs 650, 2 percent lower than its initial public offer (IPO) price of Rs 661 per share on the BSE. The stock listed at Rs 651 on the National Stock Exchange (NSE). Post listing, the stock hit a high of Rs 655 and a low of Rs 638 on BSE so far.

At 10:02 am, it was trading 2 per cent lower at Rs 648 against its issue price on BSE and NSE. A combined 6.44 million shares changed hands on the counter on both the exchanges. The Rs 5,700-crore IPO of ICICI Lombard garnered three times subscription. Its 61.67-million share offering saw a total bid of 183.6 million shares.

Nearly 78 per cent of the bids came from institutional investors, with the qualified institutional buyer (QIB) seeing eight times more demand than the shares on offer. The retail investor category saw 1.2 times subscription; high net worth individual (HNI) segment was subscribed only 83%, the stock exchanges data shows.

Many brokerages have recommended their clients to subscribe to the IPO with a long-term investment horizon. “ICICI Lombard is the largest non-life private sector insurer in India.

It is a joint venture between ICICI Bank and Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd of Canada. Backed by strong parentage, and under penetration of non-life insurance business in India, the company has been on a strong growth path with its Gross Direct Premium Income growing by 26.7% over FY2015-17,” Angel Broking said in IPO note.