KARACHI, Oct 8: Central Depository Company of Pakistan (CDC) has awarded a mandate to BMA Capital to act as lead manager for the listing and Initial Public Offering (IPO) of shares in the company, said a release issued on Wednesday.

The listing is expected to take place through a fresh issue of shares on the Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad stock exchanges by January 2009.

“BMA is confident of an overwhelming response to the IPO based on CDC’s solid fundamentals and unsurpassed vision of its management,” said the release.

CDC was incorporated in 1993 and became operational in 1997 with the responsibility to manage and operate the Central Depository System (CDS). The company has enjoyed a solid performance in FY08 with revenues up 32 per cent from last year to Rs1.13bn and profit after tax up 51 per cent to Rs398 million.