ISLAMABAD (November 27 2006): The government will fetch $1.5 billion from Oil and Gas Development Company (OGDC) global depository receipts (GDRs) as its books' building process has been well received in the international market.

The officials in Islamabad say that initial reports on books' building were indicative of GDRs oversubscription. They, however, add that the exact GDRs' size will be decided after getting full picture of the books' building process.

Talking to Business Recorder on Sunday an official said: "The GDRs offering has been well received by investors in the international market and we believe that it's going to oversubscribed".

He said that the response had improved officials' confidence level in Islamabad and they are confident to fetch $1.5 billion from the transaction.

After taking into account the pros and cons of GDRs transaction, the government had opened the books' building process for the investors from November 15 to its close on November 30.

Before opening of books' building process, the officials in Islamabad had announced at a press conference that in case of over-subscription the government would use the option of green-shoe for GDRs offering.

As the books' building process in on, an OGDC team is holding company road shows in USA, UK, Singapore and Dubai to give the investors a good idea of the company profile and contribution in Pakistan's oil and gas production. The company road shows are going to conclude by the end of the current month.

The company road shows are actually a follow-up of the country road shows held sometimes back.

The policy makers claim that the country road shows were a great success and they were going to pay Pakistan a good dividend in the form of good response for OGDC GDRs.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2006