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Islamabad, March 8, 2003
Privatisation Commission has decided to divest shares of some major public
sector entities through Stock Exchange. The decision was taken in a meeting
which met to review the status and the progress of the privatisation activity
under the Chairmanship of the Senator elect Dr. Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, Advisor
to the Prime Minister on Privatisation and Investment here today.
Senator Dr. Abdul Hafeez Shaikh said that the decision would help to deepen
and broaden the base of the Stock market and to facilitate the common man for
participation in the privatisation process. These entities include National
Bank of Pakistan, Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited, Pakistan
International Airline Company, Sui Southern Gas Company and the Initial Public
Offering (IPO) of two unlisted companies namely Oil & Gas Development Company
Limited (OGDCL) and Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL). The percentage of the
shares proposed to de divested will be announced after the consideration and
approval of the PC Board and Cabinet Committee on Privatisation (CCOP).
PC has received Rs. 2.8 billion plus through the divestment of GoP shares in
ARL, POL and D G Khan Cement during the last 10 weeks.
Referring to the bidding of Pakistan State Oil (PSO) as scheduled on April 26,
2003, the meeting was informed that all outstanding issues including the one
relating to receivables would be resolved prior to bidding. It was decided in
the meeting to hold the bidding of Investment Corporation of Pakistan-Small
Enterprises Mutual Fund (ICP-SEMF) on March 22, 2003. The Advisor to PM
stressed upon the PC to take effective measures to accelerate the pace of the
privatisation of public sector entities in an open and transparent manner. He
emphasized that during the process of privatisation of our national assets no
compromise would be made on our national interest. We were ensuring
active participation of international and quality players in the process, he
added.
The meeting also finalized the agenda for the Privatisation Commission Board
meeting, which is expected to meet within the next two weeks.
The meeting was further informed that the proposals made by the Financial
Advisor for KESC Pricewaterhouse Cooper (PWC)for the privatisation of KESC,
were under active review.
The meeting held a detailed review of the transactions, including Pak Arab
Fertilizers, Pak American Fertilizers, Karachi Shipyard & Engineering Works,
National Construction Company (NCC), the cement plants at Thatta and AC Rohri,
Felatti's Hotel, Lahore, SNGPL, SSGC, PSO, PTCL, KESC, Habib Bank Limited,
WAPDA's distribution companies FESCO, PESCO and a Generation unit Jamshoro
Power Company. Major decisions to take the process forward in these
transactions were taken.
The senior officials and the consultants of PC attended the meeting.