SINGAPORE, Nov 9: Pakistan is looking to raise funds overseas by selling shares of one of its state firms and the details should be finalized by the end of this month, a senior government official said on Wednesday.

“Pakistan wants to go to the equity market now. We will be going in for a GDR,” Ashfaque Hasan Khan, economic adviser and director general of the debt office of the ministry of finance, told Reuters while in Singapore to attend a conference and meet investors.

The country aims to raise about $500 million from offshore investors in the fiscal year ending June 2006, he said.

After having raised funds through a 5-year Eurobond and Islamic bond last year, the country now wanted to raise equity overseas, he said.

Details of which state-owned firm will issue the global depositary receipts (GDRs), what percentage of its stake will be offered and the amount to be raised would be decided by the end of November and the issue too would happen soon, said Mr Khan.

The ministry was still debating whether a proposed Eurobond will be issued to investors outside of the United States or include US investors, he said.

The tenor of that bond could be anything between five and 10 years, he said, adding that the government hopes to get a good price for the new bond.—Reuters