Banks forgo bumper fees for managing LIC IPO to get league table rankings

What bankers stand to gain is outsized credit in rankings that compare rivals by the volume of deals they handle.

Investment banks advising on the initial public offering of Life Insurance Corp. of India are forgoing large fees expected from the country’s biggest ever listing, and settling instead for glory in the league table rankings.

The 10 advisers managing the IPO will receive around 10 million rupees ($129,000) each for their role in the offering, a fraction of what they’d typically pocket for a deal of this size. Earnings are further trimmed because India’s government, which owns LIC, won’t compensate the banks for expenses such as printing forms for the issue.

What bankers stand to gain is outsized credit in rankings that