The government will reap up to $5.5 billion from the sale of Medibank Private when it lists on November 25, the health insurer's prospectus has shown.
The document, which was lodged with the corporate regulator this morning, showed that the shares would be priced between $1.55 and $2.00.
The indicative share price range suggests a market capitalisation of between $4.3 billion and $5.5 billion, which would place Medibank as one of the market's top 100 companies.
The valuation suggests a price to earnings ratio of between 16.5 to 21.3 times.
Medibank shareholders will receive a fully franked dividend for the seven months to June 30, 2015 of 4.9¢ a share, according to forecasts contained in the prospectus. That implies a 2015 financial year dividend yield of between 4.2 and 5.4 per cent.
Medibank provided a final sweetener to the Coalition by delivering a dividend worth $238.8 million. The dividend included a $42 million final payout for the 2014 financial year and a $196.8 million special dividend. Finance Minister Mathias Cormann said the initial public offering would include a price cap of $2 a share for retail investors, even if the final price is set above the indicative range. The cap will apply to the first $250,000 allocated to individual applicants under the retail offer.
Medibank's financial performance for the year ended June 30 is also revealed officially for the first time, despite the numbers having found their way across the desks of institutional investors in pre-marketing research in the past weeks.
