No plans for IPO in near term: ICICI Prudential

Private sector player ICICI Prudential Life Insurance today said it is well capitalised and does not have to tap the equity market in the near future.

"We have no plans to go for IPO in near future because we are well capitalised," ICICI Prudential Life MD and CEO Sandeep Bakshi said at the CII insurance summit here.

Meanwhile, Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (Irda) Chairman J Hari Narayan said that the IPO guidelines for life insurers would soon be announced and was currently awaiting clearance from the capital market regulator Sebi.

As per the Insurance Act, promoters having 26 per cent stake can offload equity through IPO in the company after 10 years of operation.

Irda had already notified the disclosure norms, necessary for providing details about the operations and balance sheets on quarterly and yearly basis. The IPO guidelines will deal with minimum norms that a company must fulfil before hitting the capital markets.

Several private sector insurers, including Reliance Life and HDFC Standard Life, have shown interest in tapping the capital market to augment their resource base.

The private players are waiting to tap the primary markets to augment their resource base, as all of them are yet to break even.