COT facility in OGDC from January 19

The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) has allowed inclusion of Oil and Gas Development Company (OGDC) in the list of Carry Over Transaction (COT) eligible securities from January 19, 2004 (Monday).
The formal trading in the OGDC will start from Monday after the government successfully sold 5 percent or 215 million shares of the company.
The SECP has also directed that the list of COT eligible securities would be restricted to 30 securities only. Since, with the inclusion of OGDC, the number of companies in the list of COT eligible securities has increased to 31.
The notice of the exchange informed the members that with effect from February 2, 2004, Chakwal Cement Company would be deleted from the list of COT eligible securities.
Accordingly, COT facility would not be allowed in Chakwal Cement Ltd., from February 2, 2004.
The offer for sale of 2.5 percent shares of the OGDC by the government has been a tremendous success.
Owing to heavy support from both, individual and institutional investors, the offer has been oversubscribed by more than seven times, attracting an amount of more than Rs 28.12 billion.
The amount of subscription received has no parallel in the history of the local stock market. The offer size as well as the subscription received has made the transaction the largest and most successful pubic offering to date.
The listing of OGDC shares has increased market capitalisation by more than Rs 170 billion, which translates to about $ 3 billion.
Our Islamabad correspondent adds: The shares of OGDC will be available for carryover trade (COT) at Islamabad Stock Exchange (ISE) from January 19, 2004, said a press release by ISE here on Friday.
The exchange had moved a request to the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) for approval of 25 COT eligible securities. ISE also sought approval for inclusion of OGDC in COT eligible securities list, subject to formal listing.
The request was duly approved by the SECP and, accordingly, the Exchange circulated the notice on December 1, 2003 of inclusion of OGDC in COT eligible securities.
It may be noted that the capital market regulator, SECP, has commended ISE for the fair and transparent manner of handling the issue of OGDC's inclusion in the list of COT eligible securities.
Through a letter from Joint Director (SE), the commission appreciated the ISE Management's performance and expected that the exchange would continue to perform its functions in the same professional manner for the benefit of the capital market.