NEW DELHI: The Rs 8,400 crore initial public offer ( IPO ) by SBI Life picked up pace on Friday, as the issue got subscribed fully within one hour of the last day of bidding process.By 11 am, the issue had received bids for 10,18,08,966 shares , which was 1.15 per cent of the total issue size of 8,82,00,000 shares.Analysts say the offer leaves little room for listing gains, but advised a 'subscribe' on the issue, due to the insurer's strong fundamentals, for long-term gains.Antique Stock Broking said that the continued momentum in new business growth along with improvement in operating metrics will enable the company to see steady re-rating.But "We believe the price band leaves little upside in the near term. However favourable demographics, healthy return ratios and market leadership position of SBI Life makes it an interesting play for long term investors," Antique said in a note.The insurance company, which is looking to maintain 39 per cent growth achieved in FY17, has set the price band for the issue at Rs 685-700 per equity share. The joint venture between SBIand BNP Paribas Cardif, the insurance arm of BNP Paribas, would be offering a discount of Rs 68 per share on the offer price to its eligible employees.Prabhudash Lilladher in a note said that SBI Life is increasingly focusing to improve protection business share which is high margin and have moderate opex."We believe Operating RoEV to remain stable at 23 per cent and improve post over-run margins to 18 per cent by FY19 from currently 15 per cent. At the upper band of Rs700, the company would trade at 3.18 times September 2015 embedded value (EV), which we believe is fully priced and, hence, we recommend to Subscribe for long term gains," the brokerage said.The valuation at 4.2 times FY17 embedded value for the issue compares with ICICI Prudential's 3.8 times FY17 EV. But analysts attribute the valuations to SBI Life's stronger brand. The company is India’s largest private life insurer in terms of New Business Premium (NBP) generated in each fiscal year since Fiscal 2010 and has a product portfolio of 29 individual and 8 group products.SBI Life distributes its products through 24,000 SBI bank branches, in addition to 8,500 branches of other banks. The company reported highest new business premium (NBP growth) of 42.8 per cent in FY17, compared with 22.9 per cent average growth for private peers.IIFL Wealth Managers in a noted pointed out that SBI Life has the lowest total cost ratio among the private life insurers, which is backed by an impressive control over opex."This coupled with improving persistency and mortality experience is driving an expansion in VNB margin. Operating return on EV (RoEV) stood at handsome 23 per cent in FY17, while solvency ratio of 200 per cent implies a healthy financial position. In our view, the IPO pricing at 4.2 times FY17 EV (10 per cent premium to ICICI Prudential Life) factors relative franchise strengths to an extent. However, it is not fully reflective of the structural value that high growth and improving margins could create in the longer run," the brokerage said, adding that it has a subscribe rating on the issue.