LIC bails out Rs 42-billion Hindustan Aeronautics IPO

Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) has saved the day for the Rs 42-billion initial public offering (IPO) by Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL).

The country’s largest defence public sector undertaking’s share sale was subscribed 98 per cent, the bare minimum required for the issue to go through. The IPO would have failed to reach even the half-way subscription mark if not for a last-minute bid by the state-owned insurance giant.

LIC’s Rs 30-billion bid helped HAL reach the minimum 10 per cent dilution threshold required for listing, sources said.

The Centre was planning to divest 10.2 per cent shareholding in HAL