SBI Life Insurance hits 52-week high on strong response for share sale

Shares of SBI Life Insurance Company hit a 52-week high of Rs 715 per share, up 6 per cent intra-day, on the BSE on Wednesday with heavy buying being seen at the counter in respose to excessive bids being received for stake sale. The stock erased its entire loss of 5 per cent witnessed during Tuesday's trading session after the share-sale opened.

The firm, which has put Rs 1,625 crore worth of shares under offer-for-sale (OFS), received bids for nearly 86 million shares against 25 million shares on offer, a 3.8 fold jump. Most of the bids came at Rs 670 per share, higher than the base price of Rs 650 set for the OFS, the data provided by stock exchanges showed.

The two-day OFS opened on Tuesday for non-retail investors and on Wednesday for retail investors.

BNP Paribas Cardif, the foreign partner of SBI Life Insurance, proposed to sell up to 25 million shares, representing 2.5 per cent stake in the insurance company. Following the sale, its holding will drop to 5.2 per cent from 7.7 per cent now.

At 09:35 am, SBI Life Insurance was trading 5 per cent higher at Rs 707 on the BSE, as compared to 0.25 per cent rise in the S&P BSE Sensex. The trading volumes on the counter jumped more than two-fold with a combined 1.38 million shares changing hands on the NSE and BSE so far.

In the past four months, the stock has outperformed the market by surging 28 per cent against a 10 per cent rise in the benchmark index. The stock last hit an all-time high of Rs 775 on April 27, 2018 on the BSE in intra-day trade.