SSGC SHARES PUBLIC OFFERING WITNESSES ENCOURAGING RESPONSE ON THE FIRST DAY-BANKERS TO THE OFFER ADVISED TO FACILITATE PEOPLE

Islamabad, February 09, 2004

The secondary Public Offering of Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) shares, which opened on Monday, witnessed encouraging response from the general public. Being the first day for subscription, majority of the people obtained application forms from the Bankers to the offer, all the three Stock Exchanges of the country and the web sites. Many people managed to submit their applications after obtaining forms from the newspapers published on Sunday.

There are 14 bankers to this offer namely Allied Bank, Askari Commercial  Bank, Bank Al Habib, Faysal Bank, First Women Bank, Habib Bank, Jahangir Siddiqui Investment Bank, KASB Bank, Meezan Bank, Metropolitan Bank, Muslim Commercial Bank, National Bank of Pakistan, ICIC Commercial Bank, and Union Bank. The Privatisation Commission has advised all the Bankers to the offer to facilitate the people and guide them in filling and depositing the applications. The Bankers to the offer have also been asked to issue immediate instructions to all their branches including those in the far-flung areas to provide necessary assistance to the general public in depositing their application forms.

The Privatisation Commission has clarified that those applicants who do not have accounts in any of the Bankers to the Offer may deposit their  applications at any of the Bankers to the Offer along with a pay order. However, the application forms should clearly give details of their accounts  and banks for facilitating refunds.

Overseas Pakistanis may download the application form from the following  websites:www.privatisation.gov.pk,www.ssgc.com.pk,www.amzsec.com.pk and www.meezanbank.com. These forms can be faxed to the main branches of the Bankers to the Offer at Karachi along with copies of the NICs and accompanied by a cheque or pay order or the funds may be sent through wire transfer. Such applicants would also be required to mention details of their local bank accounts to facilitate refunds.

The Government intends to transfer the benefits of privatisation to all the  citizens of the country including overseas Pakistanis. The route adopted for the divestment of GoP shares in the Public sector entities through the stock market has enabled the common citizens to extract the fruits of  privatisation.

SSGC is a company listed on the Stock Exchanges since 1956. The Government of Pakistan is presently holding 70.43 % shares of SSGC while 29.57 % shares are with the general public and institutions. The Lead Managers to this transaction are AMZ securities, Meezan Bank and M. Yousuf Adil Saleem & Co.

SSGC subscription, which started on Monday, will close on Wednesday  (February 11, 2004) at the close of banking hours.

First preference will be given to smaller applicants for the minimum lot of  1000 shares for the Public Offering (PO) of 5 % shares (33.56 million shares) of SSGC (with a green shoe option of additional 5 % shares in case of over subscription), being offered at a price of Rs. 26/ = per share  (including a premium of Rs. 16/=) with an expected proceeds from 10 % shares offering to the tune of Rs. 1.74 billion. Second and third preference will be given to the applicants for 2000 and 3000 shares respectively, while the applications for bigger denomination would be decided on pro rata basis.