BRIEFING FOR NA STANDING COMMITTEE ON PRIVATISATION ON ABL PRIVATISATION TOMORROW

Islamabad, January 3, 2005


National Assembly Standing Committee on Privatisation is meeting under the chairmanship of Syed Mohammad Asghar Shah, MNA in the Parliament House, on Thursday after noon (January 6, 2004) to discuss the privatisation of Allied Bank Limited.

Dr. Abdul Hafeez Shaikh Federal Minister for Privatisation & Investment,  Governor State Bank of Pakistan and Chairman ABL will brief the Committee on  the process of ABL restructuring.

Earlier, on December 23, 2004 while reviewing the status of Allied Bank  Limited, the representative of State Bank of Pakistan, informed the  Committee that the process was not privatisation rather it was restructuring  of the Bank. The Allied Bank Limited was given to Allied Management Group in the year 1991 through privatisation process at the rate of Rs.70/- per share  for initial offer of 26 % shares and additional offer of 25 % shares on the same rate. The employees later started selling their shares in 1997 and at one stage there were only 8 % shares left with the employees and the Bank's equity got negative. Such circumstances demanded State Bank of Pakistan to intervene and play its role as regulator. The whole process was advertised and after fulfilling all the requirements, the management of ABL was transferred to the successful bidder. The Committee, however, decided to invite Governor State Bank of Pakistan and Chairman ABL in its next meeting  to discuss the issue in detail.

Dr. Abdul Hafeez Shaikh Federal Minister for Privatisation & Investment, Ex-Officio member, Mr. Umar Ahmad Ghumman Minister of State for Privatisation & Investment, Members of the Committee MNA's Ms. Fauzia Wahab, Mian Shamim Haider, Minister for Railways, Engineer M. Shahid Jamil Qureshi,   MOS for Communication, Ch. Haroon Qaiser, Malik Ghulam Murtaza Maitla, Mr. Ijaz Ahmad Chaudhary, Syed Tasnim Nawaz Gardezi, Ms. Gul-e-Farkhanda, Mrs. Nayyar Sultana, Dr. Muhammad Farooq Sattar, Dewan Syed Jafar Hussain Bokhari, Khawaja Mohammad Asif, Qari Muhammad Yousaf, Maulana Asadullah, Mr. Ghulam Murtaza Satti and Mr. Ghulam Mustafa Shah will attend the meeting.