ISLAMABAD, June 23: Pakistan has raised $650.3 million from the international equity market by selling to overseas investors 202 million shares of the United Bank Limited, accounting for 25 per cent of the bank’s total paid up capital.

A meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Privatisation (CCOP), held under Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz on Saturday, approved the transaction on recommendation of the Privatisation Commission Board (PCB). The CCOP also approved the sale of 7.5 per cent shares of the Habib Bank Limited to local investors through initial public offering to raise Rs12.2 billion domestic proceeds.

Minister for Privatisation and Investment Zahid Hamid told journalists after the meeting that the CCOP approved recommendations of the PCB relating to UBL’s global depository receipts (GDR) offering. Conditional trading of GDR on the London Stock Exchange will start on June 25, followed by full trading on June 29.

Road shows for the GDR offering were held in Hong Kong, Singapore, London, Dubai and New York and overseas investors bought GDRs equivalent to UBL shares priced at Rs195 per share. Each GDR, priced at $12.8543, represented four underlying shares of the UBL, the minister said.

The offer prices represents a premium of 2.6 per cent to the 30-day average share price of the UBL, 9.2 per cent to the 60-day average share price and a discount of about 5.3 per cent to Friday’s local closing price of Rs206 per share. The minister said $650 million proceeds of the GDR transaction would stand transferred to the Pakistan government on June 29, meaning that the entire process would complete within the current financial year.

He said the transaction attracted $2.5 billion from a mix of global funds, adding that it was “the largest ever book for a Pakistan equity offering”.

The entire transaction was completed in 11 weeks.