Go Digit General Insurance re-files preliminary IPO papers with Sebi

Go Digit General Insurance Ltd, a firm backed by Canada-based Fairfax Group, has refiled preliminary IPO papers with Sebi after making certain changes to its employee stock appreciation rights scheme, an update with the markets regulator showed on Thursday.

This came after Sebi returned Go Digit's draft IPO (Initial Public Offering) papers on January 30 and asked the company to refile the documents with certain updates.

The size of the company's IPO remain unchanged in the revised documents.

Go Digit's proposed IPO comprises fresh issuance of equity shares worth Rs 1,250 crore and an Offer For Sale (OFS) of 10.94 crore equity shares by a promoter Go Digit Infoworks Services and existing shareholders.

Proceeds from the fresh issuance have been proposed to be utilised for the augmentation of the company's capital base and maintenance of solvency levels and general corporate purposes.

The company had first filed the draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) in August 2022 to raise funds through an initial share sale. However, it was thwarted primarily due to certain compliance requirements pertaining to employee stock appreciation rights scheme.

The draft papers were "returned in terms of Sebi's ICDR (Issuance of Capital and Disclosure Requirements) rules, which exempts rights granted under employee stock option plans to subsist at the time of filing the draft prospectus, but does not similarly exempt employee stock appreciation rights," the insurance company had said in a statement.

The company had said that it was evaluating amendments to its employee stock appreciation rights scheme and will refile its DRHP with Sebi in due course.

Go Digit has amended its employee stock appreciation rights scheme after the resolutions passed by its board and shareholders on March 21 and March 27 respectively, as per the updated draft papers.

Cricketer Virat Kohli and his wife and actor Anushka Sharma are among the investors in the firm.

Go Digit offers motor insurance, health insurance, travel insurance, property insurance, marine insurance, liability insurance, and other insurance products, to meet the needs of the customers. It is one of the first non-life insurers in India to be fully operated on the cloud and has developed application programming interface (API) integrations with several channel partners.