ISLAMABAD, Aug 11: Balloting for the offer for sale of shares for the Habib Bank Limited (HBL) was held on Saturday in the presence of Privaisation Commission officials and representatives of the Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad stock exchanges.

An official announcement on Saturday said that the balloting was conducted in Karachi.

A total subscription of Rs18.94 billion has been received against a base offer of Rs8.11 billion (excluding Green-shoe option), resulting in an oversubscription of 2.33 times.

The HBL’s IPO consisted of a 5 per cent offer (34.5 million shares) with an additional Green-shoe option of 2.5 per cent (17.25 million shares).

Keeping the objectives of the government's ‘privatisation for the people” programme, shares were offered for the first time in lots of 100 and multiples of 100 up to 500 shares and thereafter multiples of 500 shares. This made the subscription affordable for the common man.

The subscription of HBL shares commenced on July 26 and closed on July 31, 2007.