ISLAMABAD, Nov 18: The Initial Public Offer (IPO) of 2.5 per cent shares of the OGDCL (107.5 million shares), received overwhelming response from the general public and institutional investors, and has crossed the subscription figure to Rs24 billion and may further increase as the details still pour in.

Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, federal minister for privatization and investment, said this while talking to newsmen here on Tuesday.

Preference will be given to the smaller applicants for the minimum lot of 1,000 shares.

The offer size as well as the subscription received had made the transaction the largest public offering to date, he added.

He further said the listing had increased market capitalization by more than Rs170 billion or about $3 billion.

The OGDCL share has been provisionally listed at all three stock exchanges of Pakistan and during the first two days of this week it has been trading in the narrow range of Rs38 to Rs42.

In terms of volume, it has been the highest traded stock during the last few sessions. The OGDCL share is sure to make a place in the KSE-100 Index in its next revision.