LIC Housing Finance is targeting to raise up to Rs 1,200 crore through an institutional placement offer by December, company’s top executives have said.

“We have already appointed five merchant bankers and will be completing the QIP (qualified institutional placement) in a month or two,” LICHFL Chief Executive V K Sharma told reporters on the sidelines of an event here last evening.

Sharma did not give a possible size of the issue, maintaining only that the company plans to issue 4.6 crore new shares.

However, a senior company executive said it is hoping to raise up to Rs 1,200 crore through the proposed issue of new shares.

The scrip of the company, the home finance subsidiary of insurance major LIC, shed 0.30 per cent to close at Rs 246.35 apiece on the BSE on Tuesday.

The merchant bankers appointed for the issue include Nomura, Kotak Securities, HSBC, Citigroup and Avendus Securities, the official said.

The parent, Life Insurance Corporation’s stake in the company currently stands at 40.31 per cent which will come down to the 36.54 per cent level after the issue, he added.

“We had raised Rs 800 crore through a preferential allotment to LIC early this year. The share of LIC will come down to the pre-preferential allotment level of 36 - 37 per cent after the QIP issue,” he said.

The 23-year-old home mortgager also moved into a new corporate office in the Cuffe Parade area of south Mumbai yesterday.

The place it had moved into was earlier used by private lender Axis Bank as its corporate headquarters and Sharma said LICHFL has invested close to Rs 38 crore in the property.

Related Topics