Cleary Gottlieb acted as U.S. and English law counsel to Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Arif Habib and Elixir Securities Pakistan in the secondary offering by the Islamic Republic of Pakistan of 609,317,135 shares in Habib Bank Limited. The shares were offered in the United States under Rule 144A and outside the United States (including in Pakistan) under Regulation S. The offering priced on April 13, 2015 and closed on April 17, 2015.
HBL is the largest bank in Pakistan with a balance sheet of over $18.6 billion and has shares listed on the Karachi, Islamabad and Lahore stock exchanges. The bank, which opened in 1947, has 1,596 branches in Pakistan and an international network spread over 29 countries.
The Islamic Republic of Pakistan owns a minority interest of 41.5% in the bank and sold substantially all of its stake for $1.02 billion. The offering is part of the Republic’s privatization and asset sale program which is aimed at decreasing the country’s fiscal deficit and boosting the country’s foreign exchange reserves. The offering is reportedly Pakistan’s largest-ever equity offering with 75% of the offered shares subscribed by foreign investors.