|
|
|
|
|
A spokesman for the Privatisation Commission while referring to a news
report published in a section of the press today regarding an out of process
offer for Habib Bank Limited stated here today that it was an attempt to
mislead and misguide the public.
He said that the parties who had submitted Expressions of Interest for HBL by
June 30, 2003 were required to submit their Statement of Qualification (SOQ)
for pre-qualification to participate in the bidding process of the Bank. The
pre-qualification process was undertaken by the representatives of PC, SBP and
Finance Division. On the basis of the SOQs of the parties detailed analysis
regarding their competence to acquire a commercial bank was prepared by A. F.
Ferguson & Co, an affiliated firm of PricewaterhouseCooper, he said.
The spokesman further said that six parties were permitted to enter the Data
Room opened on September 8, 2003 prior to their pre-qualification for bidding.
However, only three parties conducted the due diligence of the Bank. These
three parties including Agha Khan Fund for Economic Development, Central
Insurance Company Limited and State of Qatar Supreme Council for Economic
Affairs and Investment were all pre-qualified by the Committee for the
bidding. All the key issues were resolved and the bidding process was made
known to the potential pre-qualified bidders during two pre-bid conferences,
he added.
He mentioned that the party making an out of process offer did not enter the
Data Room for due diligence opened four months back. He asked that if they
did not have access to the Data Room, then on what basis did they assign a
value to HBL? What does this say about the capability and quality of a
party, its directors and about its corporate responsibility when, without the
data required to assess the value of HBL, it generates a totally wild number
and apparently could not even generate $10,000/- to pay for the data room
entry fee.
He further clarified that the Pre-qualification Committee did not recommend
the party for pre-qualification on the basis of incomplete information, lack
of managment capability, unreliable financial information and overall lack of
demonstrable capability. The party in a letter also informed the Privatisation
Commission that they did not need to conduct a due diligence exercise and so
did not require access to the HBL Data Room as they had all the information
required by them to proceed further with the bidding process. Such a statement
is sufficient evidence of their lack of seriousness and capability for
acquiring any asset let alone HBL.
He added, that any offer, at this stage, by an out of process party is a clear
attempt to undermine a successful privatisation. There were good reasons to
believe that the party was acting as a front for the lobby opposing an open,
fair, transparent and successful privatisation and be ignored.