Pakistan is looking to raise funds overseas by selling shares of one of its state firms and the details should be finalised by the end of this month, economic adviser and director general of the debt office of the ministry of finance Ashfaque Hasan Khan said on Wednesday.
"Pakistan wants to go to the equity market now. We will be going in for a GDR," he told Reuters while in Singapore to attend a conference and meet investors.
Ashfaque Hasan said the country aims to raise about $500 million from offshore investors in the fiscal year ending June 2006. After having raised funds through a 5-year Eurobond and Islamic bond last year, the country now wanted to raise equity overseas, he added.
Details of which state-owned firm will issue the global depository receipts (GDRs), what percentage of its stake will be offered and the amount to be raised would be decided by the end of November and the issue too would happen soon, said the adviser.
The ministry was still debating whether a proposed Eurobond will be issued to investors outside of the United States or include US investors, he said.
The tenor of that bond could be anything between 5 and 10 years, Ashfaque Hasan said, adding the government hopes to get a good price for the new bond based on how far spreads had tightened on the 2004 Eurobond.
That 5-year bond was issued at 370 basis points over US Treasuries. It is being traded at around 150 bps, he said.
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