lucky-cement-aims-to-revive-pakistan-gdr-issuance

Lucky Cement aims to revive Pakistan GDR issuance

Strong regional demand for cement and an outperforming stockmarket are key selling points as Pakistan's largest cement producer goes on the road with a $150 million deal.

By Anette Jönsson

April 28, 2008

PakistanÆs largest cement producer, Lucky Cement, on Sunday started marketing a global depositary receipt GDR issue that could raise between $125 million and $150 million based on current market prices.

If successful, this will be the first GDR issue from Pakistan since United Bank raised $653 million in June last year. At that time, Pakistan had a healthy pipeline of GDR issuance candidates, but the political unrest that took hold in the third quarter, and led to the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto in December, put all share sale plans on hold. Bankers are optimistic that the issuance will resume now that the country has got a new government in place, but a...