Bank of Baroda-backed IndiaFirst Life Insurance files draft papers to raise funds via IPO

Bank of Baroda-promoted IndiaFirst Life Insurance has filed preliminary papers with capital markets regulator Sebi to raise funds through an initial public offering (IPO).

According to merchant banking sources, the IPO size could be between Rs 2,000 crore and Rs 2,500 crore.

The public issue consists of a fresh issue of equity shares worth up to Rs 500 crore and an offer-for-sale (OFS) of up to 141,299,422 equity shares by promoter and selling shareholders, as per the draft red herring prospectus (DRHP).

As a part of the OFS, Bank of Baroda (BOB) would sell 89,015,734 shares, Carmel Point Investments India would offload 39,227,273 shares and Union Bank of India would divest 13,056,415 shares.

BOB, India's third largest PSU bank, holds 65 per cent stake in the company, followed by Warburg Pincus affiliate Carmel Point Investments India that owns 26 per cent stake and Union Bank of India that has 9 per cent shareholding.

Proceeds from the fresh issuance worth Rs 500 crore will be used towards augmentation of its capital base to support solvency levels.

Net premiums earned by the the Mumbai-headquartered insurance company increased by 27.80 per cent to Rs 4,985.21 crore for the financial year 2022 from Rs 3,900.94 crore in FY 2021.

The firm's embedded value increased at a CAGR of 11 per cent from Rs 1,681.20 crore in FY21 to Rs 1,865.01 crore in FY 22.

As of June this year, it had 1,634 individual agents and 21 corporate agents.

ICICI Securities, Ambit, BNP Paribas, BOB Capital Markets Limited, HSBC Securities and Capital Markets (India) Private Limited, Jefferies India, and JM Financial are the book running lead managers to the issue.

The equity shares are proposed to be listed on BSE and NSE.