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The Board of Privatisation Commission (BOPC), which met here today under
the chairmanship of Dr. Abdul Hafeez Shaikh Federal Minister for Privatisation
& Investment approved the recommendations of the pre-qualification committees
of Pakistan Telecommunication Company (PTCL) and National Refinery Limited (NRL)
and allowed eight potential investors for PTCL and 11 prospective bidders for
NRL to enter into the data room for due diligence of the transactions.
The eight pre-qualified parties for PTCL include 1. Sing Tel, Singapore, 2.
Emirates Telecommunication Corporation (ETISALAT), 3. Telecom Malaysia, 4
Mobile Telecommunication Company, Kuwait, 5. Saudi Oger Limited, Saudi
Arabia, 6. Turkcell, 7. China Mobile Communication Corporation, 8. Saudi
Telecom Company. In addition, one party namely Consortium of Almal & Detecon
is pre-qualified conditionally. The Privatisation Commission received EOI's
from fourteen (14) parties for acquiring 26 % shares of Pakistan
Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) with management control as a wholly
integrated telecom operator.
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.
Eleven parties were pre-qualified for NRL to acquire a 51% (33,985,788 shares)
strategic stake in NRL. These include 1.Al Ghurair Investments, 2. Attock Oil
Group, 3. Crescent Steel and Allied Products and Shakarganj Mills Limited, 4.
Fauji Foundation, 5. Gharibwal Cement Limited and Consortium, 6. GML Capital (Pvt)
and Consortium including National Refinery Employees Trust, 7. Gul Ahmed
Group, 8. KPC Holdings (Aruba) AEC, 9. Lukoil International Trading and Supply
Company, 10. Orient Petroleum Inc. Consortium, 11. Pakistan Refinery Limited.
The bidding for NRL is likely to be held in May 2005. PC received 29 EOIs for
this transaction.
The NRL Company's designed crude oil processing capacity is about 2.7 million
tonnes per year (62,050bpsd) with a broad range of petroleum products to cater
to Pakistan's growing demand for petroleum products. NRL is uniquely
positioned in the economic landscape of Pakistan, where it enjoys the
unrivalled business niche as the only local refinery to produce lube base oils
("LBO") and the single largest producer of high quality asphalts. Effectively,
NRL has an 80% share of the LBO market and 80% share of asphalts. In addition
to indigenous blenders, LBO produced is sold to several MNC marketing
companies where it serves as a key component in the production of high-end
branded lubricants. In addition, the company produces other value added
petroleum products, speciality oils and slack waxes. NRL products adhere to
stringent international quality specifications and the Company is certified in
accordance with OHSAS-18001 and ISO-14001.
The PC Board also decided criteria for pre-qualification of prospective
bidders for the strategic sale of Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL).
Addressing on this occasion Dr. Abdul Hafeez Shaikh said that the successful
initial public offering of KAPCO proved to be a historic event in Pakistan's
privatisation program through the participation of 1.4 million small
investors. It is a healthy sign for the entire privatisation program. The
strategic sale of NRL, PPL, PSO, PTCL etc, is proceeding in the right
direction, he added. The Minister noted with satisfaction the progress made
for the privatisation of Faisalabad Electric Supply Company (FESCO), Jamshoro
Power Co. etc. The PC Board gave go ahead for the appointment of Financial
Advisor for Karachi Shipyard and Engineering Works (KS&EW) and also approved
the inclusion of Pakistan Steel Mills Corporation (PSMC) and Morofco
Industries Faisalabad in the privatisation program.