KARACHI, Oct 8: Privatization Commission secretary Waqar Ahmed on Wednesday expressed the hope that the public offering of 3.2 per cent shares of National Bank of Pakistan would be oversubscribed.

He was responding to a question at a presentation of the Privatization Commission regarding NBP public offering, which is scheduled to begin from October 13 and continue till October 15.

He said that NBP scrips would be offered at a discounted price of Rs46 per share. He insisted that the price was attractive and NBP shares would be oversubscribed. Mr Waqar pointed out that several underwriters had requested the Privatization Commission to sell NBP shares to them at Rs46 per share.

Earlier, NBP president Syed Ali Raza in his presentation said that the assets base of the bank had witnessed a phenomenal increase in six years, rising from Rs270bn in 1997 to Rs450bn in 2003.

He pointed out that the price of NBP shares had increased by 385 per cent since it was offered two years ago at Rs10 per share. He said the bank had a clientele of 40 per cent or 23 million account holders of the total bank accounts in the country.

Mr Raza said that the cost income of the bank was the lowest at below 50 per cent among other leading banks in Pakistan. He said that return on equity ratio (ROE) of NBP was 46 per cent, while earning per share (EPS) ratio at 105.4 per cent.

He suggested investors to invest in NBP shares with two to three years perspective of earning dividend and bonus.—APP