Brokers to get smaller IPO share

SYDNEY: Australia said it will sell A$1.5bil (US$1.32bil ) worth of shares in health insurer Medibank Private to retail brokers at home and in New Zealand, a fraction of what they had applied for, to give the public and institutions a bigger share.

Finance Minister Mathias Cormann said retail brokers had applied to buy A$12bil worth of shares in the country’s largest insurer, which the government was privatising via an initial public offering (IPO) which could raise up to A$5.5bil.