Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) has participated in Qualified Institutional Placement (QIP) and acquired State Bank of India's (SBI) shares from open market, thereby increasing its stake in SBI. Now the stake of LIC has increased from 12.15% to 14.991%. Between August 28, 2013 and February 5, 2014 LIC, the insurance major, has acquired SBI shares costing 2.13 crore- as per the stock exchange disclosure. Making the biggest equity sale, SBI has sold its shares through a QIP and raised an amount of Rs 8032 crore in the last month. Selling a single piece at an average price of Rs 1565 which is indicated on the lower side of the price band set by the bank and so, SBI has sold shares of about 5.13 crore in total. The government’s stake is likely to fall down from 62% to 58.6% after equity allotment.
Along with public sector banks, LIC has also turned out to be one of the largest investors in the QIP share sale of about Rs 2000 crore worth of bids. The insurance leaders report banks as their favorite sectors especially when it comes to SBI which is the biggest lender in the country. Still, LIC has a 22.54% of stake in Corporation Bank and 10%in Vijaya Bank, Bank of India, Syndicate Bank, Union Bank, UCO Bank and Bank of Baroda.