“This dollar/rupee bond will be launched around May 30 this year with maturity period of 3 to 5 years for overseas Pakistanis. We are estimating to attract $1bn investment in one year,” Director General National Savings Zafar confirmed.
He said that the selected lead manager would suggest fixed rate on this offshore dollar bond which would be 100 to 150 basis points less than Sukuk and Eurobond but it might be higher than the market rate in the respective GCC countries in order to lure overseas Pakistanis for making investment in this saving certificate.
“This bond had nothing to do with latest Amnesty Scheme,” he said and added that the local Pakistanis would not be allowed to invest in this scheme because it could pave the way for dollarisation if the government allowed them to invest in this scheme.
The government has granted permission to Central Directorate of National Savings (CDNS) for launching saving certificate bond within the current fiscal year but investment will start pouring in by June in this fiscal and months coming in next financial year 2018-19.
This scheme is expected to be launched before May 30, 2018 and it will remain on top for attracting investments from offshore investors and its markup will be paid simultaneously in both US dollar and rupee components which one will be liked by the investors.
“We can attract $1bn with launch of Overseas Pakistanis Savings Certificates (OPSCs),” top official sources confirmed yesterday.
The CDNS has sought applications till April 30, 2018 for selection of lead manager probably comprising consortium of a few selected banks having patronage in Gulf countries where the National Savings Scheme (NSS) wanted to deepen its footprint by attracting investments from overseas Pakistanis. “We will attract offshore investment into this dollar bond,” said the official.
According to official announcement made here yesterday, the National Savings, along with their Advisers EY Ford Rhodes and HaidermotaBNR organised a pre-bid conference in Karachi with local and international banks for selection of the lead manager for the upcoming product specifically for the overseas Pakistanis.
The government has decided to launch a retail bond under the platform of National Savings called Overseas Pakistanis Savings Certificates (OPSCs). OPSCs will be a script less retail certificates in both the US dollar and Pakistan rupee, which are being initially launched in Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) countries.
National Savings desires to hire services of a bank or financial institution which has got comprehensive and robust operations, custody business and strong compliance mechanism with the local presence in Pakistan. After the hiring of the MTI, the OPSCs product is expected to be launched by May 30, 2018 in the target markets.
Huzefa Mazahir of EY Ford Rhodes briefed the participants about the salient features of the OPSCs and described the objectives comprehensively which National Savings desires to attain through hiring of the MTI for OPSCs product. Ali Akbar from HaidermotaBNR commented on the legal aspects of the proposed product.
Zafar Masud, director general, National Savings, answered the queries raised by the participants and clarified the issues related to the new scheme of National Savings. Masud described the process of OPSCs products structuring as first-of-its-kind in the world given its professional process and management undertaken by National Savings.
Zafar Masud thanked all the participants for joining the pre-bid conference call. The participants from the World Bank, Standard Chartered, DIB Pakistan, UBL, MCB, Samba Bank, Pakistan Stock Exchange and other financial institutions joined the pre-bid conference.
