somewhere around April 10, 2015.
“Pakistan is not a bad story, the economic outlook is not bad while the capital market is performing well and the transaction seems a success,” he added.
Zubair said, greenshoe option would depend upon the demand and most importantly the price offered. “If we do not get the reasonable price, the transaction could be hold. This is not a problem,” he said.
A Finance Ministry announcement earlier said the government of Pakistan intends to divest up to its existing 41.5 percent equity interest in HBL by way of secondary offering to international institutional investors as well as an offering to institutional investors and high-net-worth individuals in Pakistan.
“Shares are expected to be offered through a book building process and the offering would increase the free float of HBL. The first day of trading of the offered shares on the local exchanges is expected before May 2015,” it added.
Privatization Commission last month approved the transaction structure to sell the remaining 41.5 percent of government shares through the book-building process. It abandoned the earlier plan to issue Global Depository Receipts in the London Stock Exchange as the government could not timely meet the regulatory requirements.
According to the approved structure, the shares will be offered through domestic stock exchanges, marketed and sold through a document in compliance with the regulations of the US Securities Act.
The transaction structure also includes potential placement of a significant component of government’s shares to the multilateral development banks.
HBL is the largest bank of the country in terms of assets, deposits and branch network. Its assets are valued at Rs1.74 trillion and customer deposits are estimated at Rs1.42 trillion.
The bank last month declared full year net profit of Rs 31.8 billion, with consolidated profit after tax, an exceptional growth of 38 percent over 2013.