January 11, 2007	Thursday	Zilhaj 20, 1427

ISLAMABAD, Jan 10 : Under the government’s successful ‘Privatisation for the People’ programme, the Privatisation Commission is offering 21,505,000 shares in Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL) to Pakistani citizens.

According to a hand out issued here on Wednesday the retail Offer is open for Pakistani citizens resident in Pakistan, companies, bodies corporate or other legal entities incorporated or established in Pakistan (to the extent permitted by their constitutive documents and existing regulations as the case may be), provident/pension/gratuity funds/trusts (subject to the terms of their Trust Deed and existing regulations) and branches in Pakistan of companies and bodies corporate incorporated outside Pakistan.

This offer will constitute the retail tranche of the government of Pakistan`s ("GoP") sale of OGDCL shares, following the sale of 408,588,000 shares to foreign and domestic institutions. The retail offer will be on a fixed price subscription basis, with the offer price set at Rs110 per share, including a premium of Rs100 per share.

The retail offer price represents an effective discount of almost 3 per cent to the institutional offer price (Rs115 per share) after adjusting for the company’s first quarter dividend payment of Rs1.75 per share, which will not be available to participants in the retail offering.

The subscription for the retail offering will occur during banking hours starting from January 11 and ending on January 13. If required, balloting to determine successful applicants will take place on January 23 with final allocations announced soon thereafter.

Full details of the application process can be obtained from the Offer For Sale Document (OFSD), all potential investors should scrutinise this closely before deciding to invest. In the case of individual investors an attested copy of Computerised National Identity Card (CNIC) should be enclosed and the NIC number indicated against the name of applicant.

Copies of CNIC can be attested by any federal/provincial government gazetted officer, councillor, bank manager, Oath Commissioner or head master of high schools etc.

Original CNIC, along with one attested photocopy, must be produced for verification to the bank at the time of presenting an application. The attested photocopy will, after verification, be retained by the bank branch along with the application.

Only one application will be accepted against each account. In case of joint accounts, one application will be accepted in the name of each of the joint account holders. Joint applications by more than four persons shall not be accepted.

Subscription money must be paid by cheque drawn on the applicant`s own account payable to one of the bankers to the offer "A/c offer for sale of OGDCL`s shares by government of Pakistan" and crossed "A/c Payee only" and must be drawn on a bank in the same town as the bank through which the application has been made.

This offer is being made at a price of rs110 per ordinary share of Rs10 each, inclusive of a premium of Rs100 per share, but excluding the share transfer fee, which is to be borne by the applicant at 15 paisa per share in case of physical transfer and one paisa per share in the case of transfer under book entry system.

Applications, which are neither for 500 shares nor for multiples of 5,000 shares, shall be rejected.

All applications must bear the signature and address corresponding with that recorded with the bank in the applicant`s account. Applicants should ensure that the bank branch, on which their payment is made, completed the relevant portion on the application form.

Applications, which do not meet with the above requirements, or applications which are incomplete, will be rejected. Fictitious and multiple applications are prohibited and such application money shall be liable to confiscation under section 18-A of the Securities and Exchange Ordinance, 1969.

The minimum amount of application for subscription of 500 shares is Rs55,075 in case of physical transfer and Rs55,005 in case of transfer under book entry system. Applications below the value of Rs55,075 in case of physical transfer and Rs55,005 in case of transfer under book entry system shall not be entertained.

Allotment of shares shall be subject to scrutiny of applications for subscription.

Copies of the OFSD and application forms can be obtained from members of the Karachi Stock Exchange, Lahore Stock Exchange and Islamabad Stock Exchange, BMA Capital, the registered office of OGDCL, and from any branch of 12 banks i.e. Allied Bank Limited, MCB Bank Limited, Askari Commercial Bank Limited, National Bank of Pakistan Limited, Standard Chartered Bank, Faysal Bank Limited, The Bank of Punjab Limited, Habib Bank Limited and United Bank Limited.