ICICI Prudential Life Insurance's initial public offering opened in the market on Monday, bringing the private bank's shares into focus in trading. Interested investors can apply for the first public offer of shares, worth Rs 6,057 crore, from September 19 to 21. Each share is priced between Rs 300 and Rs 334.

This is the first time a private insurer is entering the Indian IPO market. Ahead of the IPO, ICICI Prudential earmarked more than 4.89 crore shares at Rs 334 each – altogether worth Rs 1,635.33 crore – for anchor investors from India and abroad, in one of India's biggest anchor investor placements, according to PTI. Around 40 anchor investors invited were Goldman Sachs, SBI Mutual Fund, Morgan Stanley, HDFC Standard Life, Reliance, Nomura, Birla Sun Life, Kotak Mahindra, Government of Singapore and Tata Mutual Fund.

Of the 18.13 crore equity shares of the company's that will be up for public offer, 10% is reserved for shareholders of ICICI Bank. The bank holds around 68% stake in the company, while Prudential has 26%. The insurer is a venture between ICICI Bank and UK's Prudential Corporation Holdings, with Singapore's Temasek and PremjiInvest as major shareholders.

The company filed the draft red herring prospectus – a document submitted as part of a public offering of securities – with the Securities and Exchange Board of India on July 18. It got the regulator's approval on September 2.