SBI Life offer for sale to fetch Rs 3,500 crore; stock falls marginally

State-owned lender State Bank of India (SBI) has successfully divested 4.5 per cent stake in SBI Life Insurance Company. The share sale will fetch SBI nearly Rs 3,500 crore which will help the state-owned institution augment its capital base. 

The offer for sale (OFS) on Thursday saw nearly two times more demand than the shares on offer. Institutional investors submitted bids for 85.2 million shares against 45 million on offer, data provided by stock exchanges showed the maximum bids came in at Rs 781, slightly higher than the base price of Rs 770 per share. 

Following the share sale, SBI’s stake in SBI Life will fall from 62.1 per cent to 57.6 per cent. The share sale was handled by SBI Cap Securities, HSBC, and Nomura. Shares of SBI Life fell 0.9 per cent to end at Rs 792 on Thursday. Another 4.5 million shares meant for retail investors will be auctioned on Friday. Shares of SBI Life have rallied 32 per cent this year even as the benchmark indices have remained flat. The stock has been among the top picks for many brokerages this year.