Under the government’s privatisation programme HBL was sold to Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development (AKFED)
KARACHI: Government of Pakistan is set to offload its 5 percent holding in Habib Bank Limited (HBL), in what is going to be Pakistan’s largest initial public offering (IPO).
The government through the Privatisation Commission (PC) has announced its decision to offload its 34.5 million shares of HBL, with a green shoe option of 17.3 million shares exercisable in case of over subscription. At an expected offered price of Rs 235 per share the IPO will raise Rs 12.2 billion.
“The IPO is scheduled to take place from 26 July to 31 July,” sources in the PC told Daily Times. Allotment of shares would be through balloting and preference would be given to those applying for minimum lot of 100 shares.
Besides providing the Karachi stock market with much-needed depth, HBL off loading will increase the overall size of the market by more than $3 billion, taking it to over $68 billion from the current $65.3 billion.
HBL’s IPO is going to be the major financial event of the year, with the stock market hitting record levels already. HBL is also being quoted as the most attractive amongst regional banks.
Ismailimail 