3rd Pakistani company on the NYSE

[Akif]

Zia Chishti is a native of Lahore, Pakistan, who, at the age of 29, has steered this fledgling company to the top of the charts. His company manufactures invisible braces that are being widely used by orthodondists in the USA. The company has an office in Lahore as well, and has now become the third Pakistani company to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

Zia Chishti - Co-founder of Align Technology, Chairman of the Board of Directors, and CEO
Zia Chishti is one of our founders and has served as our Chief Executive Officer and the Chairman of our Board of Directors since inception. From July 1992 to September 1995, Mr. Chishti worked for Morgan Stanley's investmentbanking division. Mr. Chishti received his M.B.A. from Stanford University'sGraduate School of Business and his B.S. and B.A. from Columbia College.


SANTA CLARA, Calif., Jan. 25 -- Align Technology, Inc. (Nasdaq: ALGN ) today announced that its initial public offering of 10,000,000 shares of common stock has been priced at $13.00 per share. All of the shares are being offered by the company. The shares will begin trading on the NASDAQ National Market under the ticker symbol ALGN on January 26, 2001. The shares are being offered by an underwriting group managed by Deutsche Banc Alex. Brown and co-managed by Bear, Stearns & Co. Inc., JP Morgan and Robertson Stephens.

[CM]

Hey there was also some news of a pak IT company being listed in the NASDAQ.
i will find that article to post it later.

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CROIRE A L'INCROYABLE

[AliBeta]

Akif yaar good article, if possible could you tell us about the other two Pakistab based companies on the stock on the NYSE? And also if possible what are the stats on Indians?

[Akif]

Yes CM...a couple IT companies, and now this brace manufacturer, Invisalign are on the NYSE. There is a mutual fund listed on the NYSE as well, Pakistan Investment Fund Inc.

Alibeta, India has 3 companies on the NYSE as well. All three are IT companies. Infosys was the first one and was followed by two more. I dont have the complete info, but i will post it as soon as i can lay my hands on it...or if someone else does.

[proudpakistani]

Pak IT firm on New York bourse

By Javad M Goraya

ISLAMABAD: A $647 million Pakistani company has launched itself on the prestigious New York Stock Exchange, Nasdaq, despite the fact that IT stocks are not doing so good in the market.

The US-based health sector company, Align Technologies, with its back-up IT development centre in Lahore, has done a successful initial public offering (IPO) and was valued at over $647 million last week.

Align Technologies was co-founded by a 29-year-old Lahore origin ex-investment banker Zia Chisti in 1997 and he is the company's chairman & CEO since then. Zia Chishti worked for Morgan Stanley's investment banking division from 1992-95 before this venture.

One of Align's biggest backers is renowned Silicon Valley venture-capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, which owns 16.8 per cent of the company's stock. Align is the second company after Netsol with a development centre in Lahore which has gone public on Nasdaq, the New York-based world's premier stock exchange. India's top four IT companies -- Infosys, Satyam Infoway, Wipro and Rediff also trade on Nasdaq.

Align Technologies produces Invisalign systems, an orthodontic product which is an invisible brace to correct teeth misalignment and is an alternative to metal braces. The company has a patent for the processes and technology in the US. Align Technologies uses 3-D computer graphics technology to design and manufacture orthodontic appliances (aligners) which is done at the development centre in Lahore.

Align Technologies employs nearly 700 people at the Lahore IT centre which not only does the graphic design of the Align Technology main product but also attends the queries of Aligns customers in the US through a call centre. The call centre uses a 2 MB bandwidth link and is manned by 100 members.

Align Technologies focuses its business on its US customers where over 200 million individuals have some form of teeth misalignment. Each year, less than one per cent of these individuals, or approximately two million Americans, enter orthodontic treatment, spending approximately $7 billion which forms the basis of Align Technologies' revenue base.

The revenues are only $3.2 million at present and the company is reporting a loss of $50 million plus due to heavy expansion cost. Due to its business concept, Nasdaq has responded to it when the US stock market is at its lowest ebb. Only three IPOs were done in January, one of them being that of Align Technologies and January is stated to be slowest at Nasdaq for the last 21 years due to the downturn in the technology sector after 4,000 companies went public in 2000.

The total shares of Align Technologies are 45 million out of which 10 million were offered and the final response was below its planned $14 to $16 per share range set by underwriter Deutsche Banc Alex Brown. The company shares traded at more than $13 on Friday.

Align began sales of its premier product, aligners in July 1999 and has trained more than 5,300 orthodontists to use the product, representing over 60 per cent of all US and Canadian orthodontists. Another of its product is ClinCheck which is an interactive Internet application that allows orthodontists to diagnose and plan treatment for their patients


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unity, faith, discipline

[Akif]

Thanks ProudPakistani. Could u provide the source of this article as well?

[CM]

It is from the dawn.
But i can't find the link.

And PP thanks for the article.

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CROIRE A L'INCROYABLE

[proudpakistani]

Its from jang. I think two-three days ago.


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unity, faith, discipline

[PureLand]

wow, that's a great news..

[kumarakn]

Thumbs up! Congratulations Pakistan!!

BTW, I heard they are opening some branch or something of NYSE in Bangalore or something like that? Will anybody shed more light on what it is and how it will affect our (India and Pakistan) economies? I think it goes online on Feb15th or so.

[This message has been edited by kumarakn (edited February 07, 2001).]

[Akif]

Dont know of any 'branch' of the NYSE opening in Bangalore, something which is impossible anyway.
I think what u are referring to is the Bangalore based Wipro, the IT firm that recently started trading ADRs on the NYSE.

[kumarakn]

No Akif, it is some branch or something similar, so that trading can be done in Bangalore. I will call my freind tonite and ask him about it.

Karthik

[kumarakn]

The following news is from TimesofIndia 21st November 2000. I heard that they got permission and they are opening it on Feb 15th or so.

Any knowledgable person here who would elighten us on how it will affect Inida's and Pakistan's economies?

I honestly hope that this move will help a lot of Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Nepali and Indian corporations to go global. Somebody explain.

kumarakn

Nasdaq awaiting RBI nod to open Bangalore office
NEW DELHI: Tech-heavy US bourse Nasdaq is awaiting Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) nod to open its first office in India by February 2001, as part of plans to assist more Indian companies to get listed in the exchange.

"We are waiting for RBI's permission to open the first office at Bangalore by February 2001," Nasdaq stock market's director Ghanshyam Dass told PTI here on Monday.

Nasdaq, which is carrying out its operations through a liason office currently, plans to step up investor awareness and relationship programmes in India in the near future, he said.

The move comes in the wake of a long list of at least 55 Indian companies, with eyes set on Nasdaq and New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), firming up for adopting Generally Accepted Accounting Principle (US GAAP) before filing application to Securities Exchange Commission (SEC).

Elaborating on the future plans of Nasdaq's Indian operations, Dass said we would provide "hand-holding" exercise to the Indian companies in joint venture with merchant bankers and consultants.

The exchange would advise Indian companies in subjects like incubation of a company, charting out a business plan, methods of offering Employee Stock Option Scheme (ESOP), implementing corporate governance, adopting US GAAP, getting attorney's guidance before coming up with the offer letter and finally filing application with SEC.

"Our objective is to assist more and more companies to go for Nasdaq listing requiring comparatively simpler processing, ensure a lower cost of listing and offer a liquid market," Dass said. (PTI)
http://www.timesofindia.com/211100/21busi11.htm

[Akif]

Good news Karthik...however, this is more of a workshop that will guide up and coming Indian business into getting enlisted on the NYSE. But that too is a great step nonetheless. As far as trading facilities go, electronic trading can be done from anywhere in the world for that matter....all u need is an internet connection.

Dow Jones already has an office in Lahore. Now Nasdaq is moving into India. Any representation that indian or pakistani companies get on the NYSE translates into valuable foreign exchange for them.
Going global also brings in more international clientele, and promotes local manpower.

[FunkyDesi]

Way to go. Promote good quality education among t/ masses (men/women both) & eventually we will see big dividends