HDFC Life IPO opens today: From anchor investment to mkt share, all you should know

HDFC Life IPO opens today: From anchor investment to mkt share, all you should know The price band of the IPO has been fixed at Rs 275 to Rs 290 per equity share

HDFC Standard Life Insurance, one of the top three private life insurers in profitability, will open its Rs 8,700-crore initial public offering (IPO) today and close it on Thursday. This will be the fourth IPO of an HDFC arm.

The HDFC Life IPO is an offer for sale (OFS), consisting of 191,246,050 equity shares by HDFC Life and up to 108,581,768 equity shares by UK-based Standard Life.

Here are key things to know about the company's IPO: 1) Super demand from anchor investors We have received superlative response from anchor investors, including a global investor who has never invested in the Indian IPO market or any Indian insurance IPO, informed Chaudhry. The company will share the details of anchor book investment on Monday.

2) Open to acquisition of small, big players Chaudhry also said the company is open to any kind of acquisition, including of Max Life if the "structural issues" that hampered its earlier deal are resolved.

"If the right kind of business comes along, we will definitely look at it. We are not saying that we will look to gobble up only small players. There could be some large players also which could come to the table," he said.

3) Business overview The company's flexibility and ability to adapt to changes in the Indian life insurance industry has allowed business to grow and profitability to improve.

During FY15-17, the total premium saw a CAGR of 14.5%, driven by a CAGR of 12.6%, 43.6% and 7.3% in individual New Business Premium (NBP), group NBP and renewal premiums, respectively. In addition, the company improved its Value of New business (VNB) margins from 18.5% in FY15 to 22% in FY17 by bettering cost efficiencies, increasing persistency ratios and selling a balanced product mix.

4) Dividends The company paid dividends (including dividend distribution tax) totalling Rs 760 crore between the first in FY14 and FY17. Chaudhry informed the next dividend will be announced in December and the new shareholders of the company will be eligible to receive that.

5) LIC losing market share?

In the presentation, Chaudhry noted that the private sector gained higher market share than LIC, for the first time in FY16, after regulatory changes in FY11. LIC's market share slipped below 44% during the first half of FY16 according to the Individual Weighted Received Premium (WRP), he said, quoting IRDAI and Life Insurance Council.

6) Key risks i) Given the fact that each bank can now act as a non-exclusive corporate agent for up to three life insurers, three general insurers and three health insurers. Thus, the company’s bancassurance arrangement with HDFC Bank is no longer exclusive in nature, and the latter has entered into bancassurance arrangements with other life insurers. | READ MORE