Karachi, October 11, 2006: MCB Bank Limited ("MCB") today announced that it has successfully raised US$150 million, through the issue of 8,622,100 Global Depository Receipts ("GDRs"). Each GDR represents four underlying equity shares and will be listed on the London Stock Exchange. Each GDR was priced at US$17.40, equivalent to PKR 264 per equity share. The GDR was effectively priced at a 0.5% premium to 10-day VWAP and a 2.9% discount to last sale. Merrill Lynch International acted as Global Coordinator, Sole Bookrunner and Sole Lead Manager for this issue, with KASB Securities acting as Financial Advisor to MCB.

This landmark transaction represents the first GDR offering for a Pakistani issuer in over 10 years. Following the offering, MCB will be the first Pakistani company to be listed on the London Stock Exchange for trading on the Professional Securities Market. The GDR issue attracted demand in excess of US$700 million from over 50 investors globally.

MCB is one of the leading commercial banks in Pakistan, with an asset base of approximately US$5.3 bn and a deposit base of over US$4.3 bn. With a current market capitalization of over US$2.3 bn, MCB is the second largest listed bank on the Karachi Stock Exchange and is one of the most actively traded stocks in the market. MCB’s approximately 8,600 employees operate through a network of 959 branches servicing thousands of institutional banking clients and 4.3m account holders. Based on its market position, potential for growth, profitability and management quality, MCB has received the Euromoney Award for Excellence for the ‘Best Bank in Pakistan’ for six out of the past seven years, and the Asia Money Award for the ‘Best Domestic Commercial Bank’ for the last three years.

Since its privatization in 1991, MCB’s major shareholder has been the Nishat Group, one of the largest and oldest business conglomerates in Pakistan, having substantial interests in cement, textiles, finance and insurance.