ICICI Pru files for IPO; biggest issue in six years

ICICI Bank on Monday announced that its insurance arm, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company has filed a draft red herring prospectus with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) for initial public offering of shares, the bank said in a regulatory filing.

On the back of the news, at 1237 hours, the shares of ICICI Bank were trading up 2.07% at Rs 269.05.

"ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company has filed for a public offer of up to 181,341,058 equity shares of ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company Limited, representing approximately 12.65% of its equity share capital, for cash, through an offer for sale by ICICI Bank', the bank said.

The company is expected to be listed later this year.

ICICI Bank holds 68% of stake in its insurance arm, 26% is own by UK-based Pru. Plc and the rest of the stake are owned by Azim Premji Trust and Singapore-based Temasek. 

Earlier, HDFC Life had also filed for IPO, but later after the merger talks with Max Life, HDFC board dropped the plan. 

Many more public sector based insurance companies are likely to enter the market via IPO. 

Currently, under Life Insurance segment, LIC holds around 70% of the market share and under General Insurance, four companies together hold 75-80% of market share.