SBI Life allots shares worth Rs 2,226 crore to 69 anchor investors

NEW DELHI: SBI Life Insurance Company (SBI Life) on Wednesday said it has finalised the allocation of 3.18 crore equity shares aggregating to Rs 2,226 crore to 69 anchor investors.

The allocation is made at the upper limit of the price band of Rs. 700 per share, India's largest private life insurer in terms of new business premium (NBP) said.

Institutional investors that participated in the anchor book allocation include Blackrock, Canada Pension, government of of Singapore, Aranda, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, and HSBC, Wells Fargo.

Others included Kuwait Investment Authority, Rochdale, Mirae, Baron, GMO, HDFC MF, ICICI Pru MF, Kotak MF, Reliance MF and Birla Sun Life MF, among others.

The insurance company, which is targeting 35-40 per cent growth in new business premium (NBP) collection in the ongoing financial year, has set the price band for the issue at Rs 685-700 per share.

The joint venture between SBI and BNP Paribas Cardif, the insurance arm of BNP Paribas, would be offering a discount of Rs 68 per share on the offer price to eligible employees.

At the upper end of the price band at Rs 700, the issue is priced at 4.2 times its FY17 embedded value of Rs 165 per share, which is higher than ICICI Prudential’s 3.8 times its FY17 EV. But analysts attribute this to SBI Life’s stronger brand value.