April 11, 2007	Wednesday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 22, 1428

KARACHI, April 10: The long wait by investors appears to be coming to an end as the Standard Chartered Bank (Pakistan) Limited is finally to begin trading on the Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) from Friday (April 13).

The price at which the stock would open on the ‘provisional counter’ could be anybody’s guess.

Equity analysts who feverishly calculate ‘fair values’ (most of which are known to go wide off the mark in actual trading!) rate the stock at various valuations.

The listed commercial bank —Union Bank Limited was merged with the Standard Chartered on Dec 29, 2006, after the latter’s acquisition of majority stake with controlling interest in the relatively tiny Union Bank. And the investors had since been waiting to hear from the Bank and so has been the KSE, which wrote in a letter on March 22: “We would like to inform you that we have been receiving a number of representations from the shareholders of the Bank on daily basis, who are anxiously awaiting listing of the Bank on the Exchange.”

The meeting of the board of directors of Standard Chartered Bank (Pakistan) Limited was held on April 3 in Dubai to consider audited annual accounts for the year ended Dec 31, 2006, following which documents required by the KSE for listing of the bank appear to have been submitted.

Deputy Chief Manager, KSE, Mohammad Ghufran announced on Tuesday: “On completion of all the relevant requirements, the Exchange has approved application of formal listing and quotation of shares of Standard Chartered Bank (Pakistan) Limited under the Listing Regulations of the Exchange, w.e.f. Friday (April 13).

As per schedule, all transactions taking place in regard to the Bank would be settled on T+3 basis from April 13.

The first settlement date would be April 18. Shares would be traded in market lots of 100 shares of Rs10 each.

For the year ended Dec 31, 2006, Standard Chartered Bank (Pakistan) Limited posted net earnings of Rs5.7bn, representing 41 per cent increase over net profit at Rs4.1bn the previous year.

The latest accounts ended Dec 31, 2006, also show addition of post-merger earnings of two days (Dec 30 and 31).