'Kapco to be highly profitable IPO'

The Privatisation Commission of Pakistan has termed Kot Addu Power Company Limited (Kapco) a highly profitable IPO, which will benefit the general public to the maximum. Talking to reporters at the second road show of Kapco here on Wednesday, Privatisation Commission Secretary Tehseen Khan Iqbal said that this was the fifth IPO for which a total of 176 million shares would be offered through stock exchanges.
The total subscription through earlier four IPOs, ie, National Bank, OGDC, PPL and PIA comes to Rs 17 billion and when translated into capitalisation it amounts to Rs 45 billion, he said.
He also said that dividend amount paid to the shareholders of these IPOs stood at Rs 2 billion. In other words, the shareholders had received Rs 30 billion by investing Rs 17 billion.
To a question about the next IPOs, he said, privatisation of State Life Insurance and United Bank was on the cards, while more shares of OGDC would also be divested in the second phase.
To another question about difficulties to be faced by public due to ban on joint CDC accounts after March 31, he said, the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) had decided it and not the Privatisation Commission, but the CDC would be asked to make arrangements for opening of CDC accounts even in small cities and towns to facilitate public.
Earlier, addressing the function, the secretary said that it has been ensured that only one application of one applicant is entertained for a lot of 500 shares so that small investors could get maximum benefit from the privatisation process.
Moreover, he said, one could apply for Kapco shares in any bank branch whether he had account or not in that particular branch. He, however, said that in case of refund the applicant would have to pay certain charges to the bank. He said that a hotline would also be established to receive investors' complaints regarding Kapco shares.
To a demand raised by a questioner about reducing the existing CDC account fee of Rs 1,500, he said: "We are working on the issue at high level." He also agreed with the questioner that reduction in fee would add to the number of CDC accounts.
Kapco Chief Executive Officer Malcolm Clampin said it was the largest IPP with capacity of 1,600MW. The plant is comprised of 10 multi-fuel fired gas turbines and 5 steam turbines installed in five phases between 1985 and 1996. These turbines are divided into three energy blocks with each block having a combination of gas and steam turbines.
Highlighting the details of three year's performance of the company, he said that in 2002 its EPS was Rs 3.51 per share, while in 2003 it was increased to Rs 6.21 and in 2004 it was raised to Rs 7.86 per share.