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After holding successful road shows for IPO of UBL shares at Karachi,
Peshawar and Hyderabad, the Privatisation Commission is holding similar road
shows at Lahore and Quetta on Wednesday June 01, 2005 at Sereena Hotel Quetta
at 1700 while Lahore road show will be held at Avari Hotel at 1600 hrs. The
series of road shows will be followed at Faisalabad, Gujranwala, Sialkot,
Multan and Sukkur, which will also be participated by PC Board members. The
subscription for initial public offering of United Bank Limited shares will
open on June 3, which will remain open till June 8, 2005 during banking hours.
Continuing on the "Privatisation for the People" program of divestments shares
of United Bank Limited ('UBL') through Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad Stock
Exchanges and offer 10% shares to the general public with a green shoe option
of additional 5% shares. Privatisation Commission has appointed AKD Securities
(Pvt.) Limited as the Lead Manager for the IPO of ('UBL') after a thorough and
comprehensive pre-qualification process. Shares will be offered in lots of two
hundred (200) per applicant to pass on the benefit to a large section of the
general public. Road shows will be conducted in a number of cities for
informing the public and attracting maximum participation. The large quantity
of shares offered will also add to the liquid share float in the market and
add significantly to the investor base. The application forms can be
downloaded from PC web site:
www.privatisation.gov.pk or from the newspapers. The Privatisation
Commission is set to offer 10% (51.8 million) shares of United Bank Limited ('UBL')
(with a green shoe option of additional 5% shares) for the benefit of 388,500
citizens. The offer is being made to the general public at the rate of Rs.50/-
per share. With a view to benefiting a larger cross section of the general
public, only 200 shares per applicant are being offered requiring a total
investment of Rs.10,000/- only. The Pakistani citizens, both, resident as well
as overseas have been advised, to get their Computerized National Identity
Cards (CNIC) and open their Bank and CDC accounts to avoid any inconvenience
while submitting their applications. The Bankers to the offer have been issued
instructions to guide and facilitate the applicants in this regard. UBL, the
third largest banks in Pakistan, was privatized in October 2002 through a
strategic sale in which 51% (264.18 million) shares were transferred along
with management control. 25.5% (132.09 million) shares each were acquired by
the Abu Dhabi Group and the Bestway Group for a total price of Rs.12.3
billion. The Government currently holds 49% of UBL's total 518 million issued
shares.
UBL is a highly profitable bank with a good operational record. If the market
response to the recent share offerings of OGDCL, SSGC, PPL and KAPCO gives any
indication, an offer of shares of a bank like UBL would most likely receive a
heavy response from the general investors. The listing of UBL would increase
market capitalization significantly and would bring a worthwhile addition,
rather a leader, to the banking sector companies listed on the stock
exchanges.