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The Privatisation Commission Board on Saturday evening recommended the
highest offer of $2.59896 billion to acquire 26 per cent shares and management
control of the Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) received from
UAE's company Etisalat for approval of the Cabinet Committee on Privatisation
(CCOP). The offer was made at per share bid price of $1.96. In rupee terms,
the total value of 1.326 billion (26 per cent) shares comes to Rs155.158
billion, highest in the history of Pakistan, at a rate of Rs117.01 per share.
Thus, the total value of the company has been placed at Rs596.76 billion."
Earlier, Mr. M. Tahsin Khan Iqbal Secretary PC explained the bidding procedure
and the sealed bids were dropped in the transparent bid box by theauthorized
representatives of all the three bidders who became eligible after depositing
US $ 40 million each as earnest money within the stipulated period. A large
number of the representatives of the national and international print and
electronic media were present to witness the proceedings of the historic event
of the privatisation of Pakistan's mega utility. The sealed bids were opened
and read out by the three representatives of the media i.e. Syed Farhan
Bokhari of daily, Financial Time, UK, Miss. Saniyya Gohar of Blue Chip
magazine and Mr. Nadeem Malik of daily, The News, Islamabad. Dr. Abdul Hafeez
Shaikh Fedral Minister for Privatisation & Investment supervised the bidding
process while Mr. Owais Ahmed Khan Leghari Minister for IT &
Telecommunication, Sheikh Rahid Ahmed Minister for Information & Broadcasting,
Ministers of State for Finance, I.T & Telecom and Chairman BOI were present on
the occasion.
Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh Minister for Privatization and Investment declared
Etisalat as the highest and the winning bidder. Addressing on this occasion he
termed the event as historic and said that it was first time in our national
history that in one day we received FDI worth US $ 2. 50 billion, which has
raised PTCL worth to Rs. 600 billion. He said the highest bid of the country's
largest ever transaction would be presented to the CCOP on Monday for
approval. He said it was very encouraging that all the three bidders belonged
to friendly countries.
The second highest bidder, China Mobile of China, offered a bid price of $1.06
(Rs63.48) per share or$1.409 billion (Rs84 billion) for 26 per cent shares,
which was about 84 per cent lower than the highest bid. It estimated total
value of the company at
Rs323.74 billion. The third bidder, Sing Tel of Singapore, offered a bid price
of $0.88 (Rs52.54) per share or $1.16688 billion (Rs69.663 billion) for 26 per
cent shares. This bid was about 80 per cent lower than the highest bid. Sing
Tel valued the whole company at Rs267.9 billion. This level of interest and
commitment by bidders of international repute speak volumes of the economic
progress of Pakistan and investor friendly policies of the Government of
Pakistan.
PTCL is the leading provider of basic telephone services to the private sector
in Pakistan with over 4.4 million telephone lines in service. Besides
providing fixed line and ancillary services, PTCL owns Pakistan
Telecommunication Mobile Limited, one of five GSM cellular providers in
Pakistan and Paknet a countrywide Internet service provider. Its strong
financial position demonstrated during FY 2004 excluding subsidiaries as per
unconsolidated financials of PTCL indicates: Revenue PKR 74,124
million, Operating profit: PKR: 41938 million, Net Profit after Tax:
PKR:29,169 million, Total Assets: PKR: 141,595 million, Total Equity: PKR:
83,600 million, with a network of installed 5.27 million lines and 4.43
million access lines in service.
The independent regulator, Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), has
liberalized and deregulated the sector to facilitate an expected increase in
competition subsequent to the sale of various telecom licenses. A consortium
consisting of JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs International is advising Government
of Pakistan on the privatisation of PTCL. The cabinet has already given its
approval for sale of PTCL as integrated entity in August 2000. The government
has 88 % shares of Company and after the sale of 26 % shares the government
would retain 62 % shares in the company.