'Would have loved to buy LIC but...': GQG's Rajiv Jain on a 'missed' chance

Star investor Rajiv Jain, whose GQG Partners manages assets worth over $22 billion in India, rues missing out on the rally in Life Insurance Corporation of India.  Jain, in a CNBC-TV 18 report, attributed the miss to not "finding any blocks last year."

GQG would have loved to buy LIC, the asset manager told the channel, adding that some of the names were "hard to execute" due to lack of liquidity. GQG has been adding stocks across infrastructure, consumer goods and energy sectors in the India equity market which topped the $4 trillion mark, cementing its status as one of the best performers in the emerging world. 

Jain’s maiden bet on four Adani Group companies yielded gains of about $2.4 billion as the Indian conglomerate rebounded after a damaging short-seller report last year. Jain’s $1.9 billion investment in Gautam Adani’s empire soared 130% to about $4.3 billion in just 10 months, according to Bloomberg calculations. Jain cut against the grain when he bought battered Adani shares following Hindenburg Research’s allegations of accounting fraud, which the company has repeatedly denied. The value of ports-to-power conglomerate’s stocks nosedived more than $150 billion at one point and a rally over the past six weeks has helped boost Jain’s investments. 

India's largest insurer LIC boasts a market cap of Rs 6,58,400 crore. The face value of LIC share is Rs 10.00. The 52-week high and low of the share is Rs 1,175.00 and Rs 530.20 apiece. LIC shares have climbed Rs 104.95 (11.21%) and Rs 442.40 (73.91%). Many brokerages are bullish on the stock amid a rally in the past few days. Kotak Institutional Equities recommended 'buying' at the price of Rs 1,052 apiece with a stop loss of Rs 1,300 apiece.
Bank of Baroda has also given 'hold' rating for the LIC stock. It has recommened the buying at current market price of Rs 1,040. It has given the target price for the stock to Rs 1,140.