ISLAMABAD, Dec 1: Minister for Privatization and Investment Zahid Hamid has said that the government has completed the institutional offering of the Oil and Gas Development Company’s Global Depository Receipts (GDR) that would yield gross proceeds worth $813 million.
"The transaction was over-subscribed about two times with gross demand of over $1.5 billion. But we have chosen to limit it to $813 million," he said at a news conference on Friday.
He said it was the largest equity offering of a Pakistani company abroad in more than a decade.
Responding to a question, he said that demand was generated from a broad range of institutional investors from the United States, United Kingdom, Asia and the Middle East, as well as from the Pakistani institutional market. Many of the world's leading institutional investors participated in the transactions, he said.
The minister said 95 per cent of the institutional offer had been allocated to international investors and five per cent had been offered to Pakistan-based institutional investors.
He said the financial advisor would start working on the strategic sale of the OGDCL in a few months.
"This is the first time that institutional investors in Pakistan have participated in an international book-building for a publicly-traded, Pakistan -listed company," he said.
The free float of the OGDCL, he said, would rise to 15 per cent as a result of the offering. It would enhance the company's institutional profile and broaden its investor base by adding high-quality diversified shareholders.
Mr Hamid said the transaction had more than doubled foreign portfolio investment in the country "and there is no doubt that this has enhanced Pakistan's image abroad".
The government believes that it is successful completion of the management, road show and book-building process for the domestic and international institutional offering of ordinary and Global Depositary Shares (GDS) of the company.
The offer was priced at Rs115 per share and $18.9 per GDS, with each GDS representing 10 shares. The offering price represents an approximately 9.5 per cent discount to Thursday's closing price.The number shares sold by the Privatisation Commission is 376.799 million, excluding the over-allotment option.
The underwriters have been granted an over-allotment option for up to 53.294 million additional shares, exercisable for 30 days.
The gross proceeds of the institutional offer are expected to amount to Rs43.332 billion, excluding the over-allotment option. Including the over-allotment option and the retail offering, the proceeds are expected to amount to Rs49.461 billion.
