GIC Re floats RFP to hire registrars for proposed IPO

State owned General Insurance Company of India (GIC Re) has floated a request for proposal (RFP) to appoint registrars for its proposed divestment through an initial public offering.
GIC Re along with the government is considering to raise funds through issue of fresh equity shares and divesting a portion of the paid up capital of the reinsurer out of the government's shareholding of 100 per cent in the domestic market through an IPO, it said.
"Proposals are invited by 1500 hours on July 11, 2017 from reputed category I registrars, having a valid contract, with experience and expertise in public offering viz IPO/follow on public offer/offer for sale in the capital market, to act as registrar to the issue," it added.

The RFP follows government nod in January to divest stake in five public sector general insurance companies. Earlier in March this year, the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) had invited bids to engage book running lead manger/s (BRLM) to manage the initial public offering (IPO).
In its RFP document, GIC Re said it will be going for an IPO of equity shares with face value of Rs 5 each in the domestic market.
"The size of the offer, its structure shall be decided by the government/GIC Re in consultation with the selected book running lead manager/s (BRLM's) and legal advisor's subject to regulatory requirements," GIC Re said.

Bidders are required to have a technical infrastructure with data base maintenance capacity, redundancy in capacity, scalability, data security, voice data management among others, it said.

The transaction (of shares in IPO) is proposed to be completed in the current year, GIC Re said asking the bidders to have an ability to deliver in accordance with tight timetable as well as the ability to commit key personnel for the entire duration of the transaction.
GIC Re provides reinsurance support to 54 direct general and life insurance companies, both public and private in the Indian insurance market.
It also has a global presence providing reinsurance services to insurance companies in the SAARC region, African countries, the Middle East besides having branch offices in London, Dubai and Malaysia and a representative office in Moscow.

The union government in its budget 2017-18, has set a target to garner Rs 72,500 crore from divestment proceeds in the current fiscal. It has estimated Rs 11,000 crore of this to come from PSU general insurance companies' divestment.