ISLAMABAD, May 19: The Privatization Commission (PC) has received seven Expressions of Interest (EOIs) from its panel of lead managers for the IPO of Kot Adu Power Company limited (KAPCO).

In view of the response received for the share offerings of OGDCL and SSGC, the government has decided to list the shares of (KAPCO) at the Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad Stock Exchanges and offer 10pc shares to the general public with additional 10pc shares as green shoe option in case of over-subscription.

According to a handout issued here on Wednesday, KAPCO is a large IPP with a power generation capacity of 1600mw. KAPCO was privatized in 1996 and the government transferred management control to M/s International Power Plc along with 26pc shares.

Subsequently, 10pc additional shares were also divested to the new owners. Total proceeds of Rs9 billion were realized by the government in this divestment and the government now holds 64pc of KAPCO's total 880 million issued shares. KAPCO is a highly profitable company with a good operational record.

If the market response to the recent share offerings of OGDCL, SSGC and Bank Alfalah gives any indication, an offer of shares of a company like KAPCO would increase market capitalization significantly and would bring a worthwhile addition, rather as a leader, to the power sector companies listed on the stock exchanges. The large quantity of shares offered would also add to the liquid share float in the market.

EOIs have been received from Arif Habib Securities Limited, BMA Capital Management Limited, Elixir Securities Pakistan (Pvt) Limited, First Capital Equities Limited, Global Securities Pakistan Limited, KASB Securities (Pvt) Limited and Ofix Investment Bank Pakistan Limited.

The Lead Manager for the transaction would be selected out of the seven interested parties through a competitive and transparent process consisting of technical and financial pre- qualification.