PC REALIZES RUPEES 10.39 BILLION THROUGH PUBLIC OFFERING OF NBP-OGDCL-SSGC SHARES

Islamabad, April 3, 2004

To implement the Government's firm commitment to pass on the benefits of privatisation to the common man, the Privatisation Commission has so far benefited 197887 small applicants through the Public Offering of GoP shareholding in National Bank of Pakistan (NBP), Oil & Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL) and Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC).

The amount realized through the sale of shares of these entities comes to Rs. 10.39 billion. NBP shares were sold to 33200 applicants through an IPO and two Secondary Public Offerings for Rs. 1.7 billion. The Offerings were oversubscribed and at the present average rate of Rs. 60/= per share, the divested shares have shown an increase of 200 % in value and are presently worth about Rs. 5.26 billion. An amount of Rs. 6.88 billion was realized through the Initial Public Offering of OGDCL shares from 97570 applicants. The IPO was 8 times oversubscribed and at the present average price of Rs. 61/= per share, the divested shares have shown an increase of 91 % in value and are worth about Rs. 13.12 billion. The secondary Public Offering of SSGC shares fetched Rs. 1.74 billion and was all time highly oversubscribed by 15 times, setting new records. With the average price of Rs. 34/= per share, the divested shares have shown an increase of 31% and are presently valued at Rs. 2.28 billion.

The total proceeds of these three Capital Market transactions come to Rs. 10. 39 billion and after accounting for the recent price appreciation experienced by the three stocks, the value of the divested shares stands at Rs. 20.66 billion, resulting in an unimaginable and unprecedented capital gain of Rs. 10.28 billion, mostly to small investors.

The Privatisation Commission has planned to continue such offerings with proper sequencing. The three stocks already planned for divestment through the stock exchanges include PIAC, PPL and KAPCO, with a focused approach to give preference to smaller applicants. Keeping in view the ample liquidity available in the capital markets and the pleasant experience from the recent offerings, the upcoming offerings are likely to see a good response from the general public which should serve to increase the investor base and would further contribute to the strength of the stock markets by increasing the market capitalization as witnessed in the earlier offerings.