India's second largest asset management company in terms of managed assets, ICICI Prudential Asset Management Company kicked off its mega IPO recently and has engaged an army of up to 17 investment banks, arguably an all-time record for size of IPO syndicates in India, multiple industry sources in the know told Moneycontrol.
The 51:49 joint venture has existed for 26 years with ICICI Bank tying up with Britain's Prudential Plc back in 1998.
"The deal was kicked off last week with all the advisors including investment banks and lawyers. This IPO will be a pure OFS or offer for sale by Prudential with no participation by ICICI Bank. The plan is to file the draft papers by June-end or early July," said one of the persons quoted above.
A second person said no final call had been taken as yet on the proposed size of the big-bang issue, which is expected to raise around Rs 10,000 crore.
"The size may change later depending on extent of shares diluted in the OFS and valuations, and more clarity will emerge closer to the launch of the IPO, which is likely in Q3FY26," this person added.
In March, Bloomberg had reported that Prudential Plc is targeting a valuation of about $12 billion for ICICI Prudential Asset Management Company.
"The big syndicate includes ICICI Securities and Citi which were taken on board earlier in the year, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Kotak Mahindra Capital, BofA Securities, IIFL Capital, Nomura Securities, JM Financial, Motilal Oswal, Avendus Capital, Nuvama, BNP Paribas, CLSA Securities and SBI Capital," two other persons added. Moneycontrol couldn't independently verify the remaining banks in the syndicate. In 2012, Bharti Infratel had engaged 13 investment banks for its IPO.
"Law firms Cyril Amarchand Mangadlas, Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas and Sidley have been engaged as legal advisors for the proposed IPO," a fifth person told Moneycontrol.
The five people quoted above spoke to Moneycontrol on the condition of anonymity.
When contacted, Prudential Plc said "we have no comment beyond what we stated in our February statement".
Email queries to ICICI Bank and ICICI Prudential AMC remained unanswered at the time of publishing this article. An immediate comment couldn't be elicited from the i-banks and law firms.
Prudential Plc announced on February 12 that it is evaluating a potential listing of ICICI Prudential Asset Management Company Limited involving the partial divestment of its shares, subject to market conditions, requisite approvals and other considerations.
"It is intended that following the completion of such a divestment, the net proceeds would be returned to shareholders. We will provide a further update at an appropriate time. India is a strategically important market for Prudential with compelling growth prospects. We will continue to explore opportunities to grow our businesses in the market," the official statement added.
On the same day, ICICI Bank acknowledged the Prudential announcement and said," We intend to retain our majority shareholding in ICICI Prudential Asset Management Company, ensuring our long-term commitment."
In March, ICICI Bank was informed by ICICI Prudential Asset Management Company and ICICI Venture Funds Management Company Limited that their respective Boards of Directors have approved in-principle a proposal to transfer the private equity, venture capital and real estate fund management business of I-Ven to IPru AMC.
"I-Ven would continue to undertake certain advisory activities as well as manage certain residual funds. The proposed transaction would enable the offering of an integrated full range of investment asset classes including private equity by IPru AMC," the disclosure said.
Prudential Plc provides life, health insurance and asset management to more than 18 million customers across 24 markets in Asia and Africa. Headquartered in London and Hong Kong, the business is focused on four strategic regions: Greater China, ASEAN, India and Africa.
The share price of ICICI Prudential AMC's listed AMC peers like HDFC Asset Management Company , Nippon Life India Asset Management Company and UTI Asset Management Company have risen sharply in the last month by around 13.27 per cent, 16.02 per cent and 20 per cent respectively.
A closer look at ICICI Pru AMC
Led by MD and CEO Nimesh Shah and Executive Director and Chief Investment Officer Sankaran Naren, as of March 31, 2025, ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund had an AUM of Rs 9,14,878 crores and 1.1 crore+ investors across 133+ schemes.
SBI Mutual Fund is India's largest asset management company (AMC).
The AMC also caters to portfolio management services for investors, spread across the country, along with international advisory mandates for clients across international markets in asset classes like debt, equity and real estate, the website adds.
Over and above ICICI Bank, the other entities from the ICICI Group that are listed include ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company, ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company and ICICI Securities.
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