Pak govt set to approve sale of Habib Bank shares tomorrow

Pakistan government today said the decision to sell its shares in the country's largest private bank Habib Bank Limited is likely to be approved tomorrow.
The government has received offers of more than USD 1.2 billion to offload its remaining shares in the bank, a government minister confirmed late night.
"The offers we got is beyond the reserve price we had set for our remaining stake in HBL," Muhammad Zubair, Minister for Privatisation told PTI.
The government had 41.5 per cent share in HBL, the sale of which was likely to be approved tomorrow, he said.
"Once approved, it would be one of the country's largest privatisation deal in the past decade," he said.

He said the government's privatisation commission had recommended selling of remaining stakes in HBL this year and the stocks were offered in the share markets of London, New York, Singapore and Dubai.

"We are elated with the response of the foreign investors and it shows the confidence they have in our government," he said.
The government had planned to offer 250 million base shares with an option of selling 390 million more, depending on the response.
The national cabinet will meet in Islamabad tomorrow to give approval for the sale.
Financial analysts said the response of foreign investors had come as a surprise since foreign investors had been dumping shares in the Pakistan stock market since last month.

HBL is one of the most respected and established private banks in Pakistan since independence and currently operates 1,424 branches in the country and also in over 25 countries.