Leading global law firm Herbert Smith Freehills has advised a five-bank syndicate on the US$1.75 billion IPO on the Bombay Stock Exchange and Rule 144A/Regulation S global offering of General Insurance Corporation (GIC), India's largest re-insurer.

This was the largest Indian IPO in seven years since Coal India in 2010, and the third largest IPO in the history of the Indian capital markets.

The bank syndicate was led by Citigroup, and also comprised Deutsche Bank, HSBC, Axis Capital and Kotak.

"India is headed for a record IPO year, with offerings from established market leaders and from new companies," said US securities partner Siddhartha Sivaramakrishnan, who led the team advising the syndicate. "This activity shows no sign of slowing with a long pipeline of India offerings expected into 2018."

Siddhartha was assisted by associates Jin Kong and Rohit Anand and trainee Ivina Suwana in Singapore. Corporate partner Barnaby Hinnigan provided specialist insurance advice from London.

"GIC was the largest of three recent IPOs from India's insurance sector, with two more major offerings expected before the end of the year," said Chris Parsons, chairman of the firm's India practice. "This activity reflects strong growth in the industry since liberalisation which is attracting international interest and strong flows of capital to these offerings."