The banks, mutual funds, financial institutions and others including small investors would have earned over Rs 10 billion in the shape of capital gains after investing in National Bank of Pakistan, Oil and Gas Development Co, and additional shares of Sui Southern Gas as compared to present price status of these entities.
To implement the government's firm commitment to pass on the benefits of privatisation to the common man, the Privatisation Commission has so far benefited 197,887 small applicants through Public Offering of GoP shareholding in National Bank of Pakistan (NBP), Oil & Gas Development Company (OGDC) and Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC).
The amount realised through the sale of shares of these entities comes to Rs 10.32 billion. NBP shares were sold to 33200 applicants through an IPO and two Secondary Public Offerings for Rs 1.7 billion.
The Offerings were oversubscribed and at the present average rate of Rs 60 per share, the divested shares have shown an increase of 200 percent in value and are presently worth about Rs 5.26 billion.
An amount of Rs 6.88 billion was realised through the Initial Public Offering of OGDC shares from 97570 applicants.
The IPO was 8 times oversubscribed and at the present average price of Rs 61 per share, the divested shares have shown an increase of 91 percent in value and are worth about Rs 13.12 billion.
The secondary Public Offering of SSGC shares fetched Rs 1.74 billion and was all-time highly oversubscribed by 15 times, setting new record.
With the average price of Rs 34 per share, the divested shares have shown an increase of 31 percent and are presently valued at Rs 2.28 billion.
The total proceeds of these three capital market transactions come to Rs 10. 39 billion and after accounting for the recent price appreciation experienced by the three stocks, the value of the divested shares stands at Rs 20.66 billion, resulting in an unimaginable and unprecedented capital gain of Rs 10.28 billion, mostly to small investors.
The Privatisation Commission has planned to continue such offerings with proper sequencing. The three stocks already planned for divestment through the stock exchanges include PIAC, PPL and Kapco, with a focused approach to give preference to smaller applicants.
Keeping in view the ample liquidity available in the capital market and the pleasant experience from the recent offerings, the upcoming offerings are likely to see a good response from the general public which should serve to increase the investor base and would further contribute to the strength of the stock markets by increasing the market capitalisation as witnessed in the earlier offerings.