July 29, 2007	Sunday	Rajab 13, 1428

LAHORE, July 28: An agreement between Wapda Second Sukuk Company and lead arrangers - National Bank of Pakistan (NBP), Standard Chartered Bank (SCB) and Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB) Pakistan, was signed at a ceremony held at the WAPDA House here on Saturday.

The ceremony was witnessed by Wapda Chairman Tariq Hameed and other senior officials.

Member (Wapda) Abdul Qadeer Chaudhry, NBP Senior Executive Vice-President Masood Karim Sheikh, DIB Country Business Manager Zafar Masood and SCB Client Relations head Imran Ahad signed the agreement on behalf of their respective organisations.

“This is the second issue being launched by Wapda to raise a sum of Rs8 billion required for three power projects — Khan Khwar (72 Megawatt), Allai Khwar (121 Megawatt) and Duber Khwar (130 Megawatt). The total estimated cost of the projects is Rs13.449 billion.

“The first Sukuk bond was launched for the Mangla project,” Mr Hameed told media at the ceremony.

He hoped that the Sukuk issue would be beneficial for both Wapda and the banks acting as lead arrangers.

Talking about issue tenure, he said the total period was ten years with a four-year grace period.

Tariq Hameed said individuals, institutions, trusts, employees’ funds, corporate bodies, including Islamic banks, modrabas, insurance companies and other financial institutions could purchase the bonds.—APP