ICICI Bank's board approves stake sale in ICICI Lombard via IPO

ICICI Bank on Monday announced that its board of directors has approved stake sale plan in insurance arm ICICI Lombard General Insurance through an Initial Public Offer (IPO). 

The issue is expected to be between Rs 3,000 and Rs 4,500 crore. 

ICICI Bank said, "The board of directors of the bank today approved the sale of a part of its shareholding in ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company Limited in an initial public offering by the company, subject to requisite approvals and market conditions."

The size and other details of the offer would be determined in due course, said ICICI Bank. 

Private-sector general insurer ICICI Lombard is a joint venture between ICICI Bank and Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd.

On May 27, 2017, Fairfax sold 12.18% of its stake in ICICI Lombard to a list of private equity firms namely - Warburg Pincus, Clermont Group and IIFL Special Opportunities Fund. 

The stake sale took ICICI Lombard's valuation at Rs 20,300 crore as Fairfax received Rs 2,372.5 crore from the sale. 

This would be the second subsidiary of ICICI Bank to opt for IPO route. 

In the month of September 2016, the bank's another insurance company called ICICI Prudential Life Insurance raised money with the public issue oversubscribed 10.48 times.

Share price of ICICI Bank closed at Rs 319.65 per piece on BSE, up 0.50%.