Thai Life Insurance's (TLI) initial share allotment from Financial Syrus Securities (FSS) was fully subscribed on its first day yesterday in the region's largest initial public offering (IPO) by an insurance firm since 2000.
FSS's IPO portion of 25 million shares, out of 2.155 billion shares, was fully bidded within 30 minutes, the underwriter said.
The securities firm said investors can check the results of yesterday's subscriptions today.
If the subscription was unsuccessful, they will receive a full refund in their cash balance accounts within three operating days.
TLI is seeking to raise 34.48 billion baht with the IPO price set at 16 baht per share, a price-per-earning ratio of 22 times and a price-per-book of 2.13 times.
Shares of TLI are expected to be listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) by the end of next month.
Despite the high volatility of the stock market, TLI received an excellent response from investors thanks to the public's trust in TLI, Thailand's first life insurance company that has been operating for 80 years.
"TLI had the highest offering value for a life insurance company in the history of the SET," FSS said.
After the IPO, TLI's market capitalisation will stand at 183.2 billion baht, among the SET's top 25, making the company eligible for the fast track to be included in the SET50 Index in the second half.
According to the SET, the three largest insurance companies by market cap as of June 27 are Bangkok Life Assurance, Dhipaya Group Holdings and TQM Corporation.
In addition, TLI shares reportedly attracted 18 cornerstone institutional investors showing interest in subscribing.
The most prominent is CIG Private Ltd, the Singapore government's private fund, which subscribed 362.50 million shares.
TLI shares also received a warm response from domestic institutional investors such as SCB Asset Management and Kasikorn Asset Management, which subscribed 181.50 million shares and 156.25 million shares, respectively.
Chai Chaiyawan, president of TLI, said the IPO proceeds will be used to strengthen TLI's businesses and enhance its potential by becoming a data-driven company.
Using strategic data analysis and digital transformation through innovation, the company will be able to improve the integrated workflow, accelerate the service process, strengthen distribution channels through partners and enhance its working capital, he said.
As of March 31, TLI has more than 4.4 million active policies.
