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Dr. Abdul Hafeez Shaikh Federal Minister for Privatisation and Investment
appointed a Committee while reviewing the progress of privatisation process of
Pakistan Steel Mills Corporation (PSMC) in a meeting along with Mr. Jahangir
Tareen Federal Minister of Industries, Production & Special Initiatives here
today.
The Committee comprising representatives from Privatisation Commission,
Ministry of Industries, Production & Special Initiatives and Citigroup. The
Committee will undertake a ground check of the area being considered for core
steel plant and ancillary facilities and to recommend only the strategic areas
required for the operation and expansion of the entity.
The meeting was briefed regarding the process of the pre-qualification of the
parties who had submitted SOQs. The Privatisation Commission received 19
Expressions of Interest in response to its invitation to offer upto 75%
shareholding in Pakistan Steel Mills Corporation (Pvt) Ltd (PSMC) to a
strategic investor. Out of the 19 parties, 13 parties had submitted their SOQs
for the purposes of pre-qualifying and proceeding to the next stage of the
privatisation process.
The parties submitting SOQ include 1.Al-Tuwairqi Group Of Companies, Kingdom
of Saudi Arabia, with Arif Habib Group of Companies, Pakistan, 2.Magnitogorsk
Iron & Steel Works, Russia, 3.Noor Financial Investment Company, Kuwait,
4.Shanghai BaoSteel Group Corporation, China, 5.Investment & Development
Office of Government of Ras Al Khaimah, United Arab Emirates, 6.International
Mineral Resources, Switzerland, 7.Aljomaih Holding Company, Kingdom of Saudi
Arabia 8.International Industries Ltd, Karachi, 9.Hassan Associates (Pvt) Ltd,
Karachi, with Med-europe Commodities International s.a.l, 10.Privilege
Developers (Pvt) Ltd with SEKYRA a.s, Czechoslovakia, 11.Aqeel Karim Dhedhi
Securities (Pvt) Ltd, Karachi, 12.Nishat Mills Limited, Lahore and 13. System
Capital Management, Ukraine.
The Financial Advisor Citigroup Global Markets had evaluated the SOQs in the
light of the criteria set out in the SOQs document. The recommendations of the
Financial Advisor will be placed before the PC Board for approval in its
upcoming meeting.
PSMC is the country's largest and only integrated steel manufacturing plant,
with an annual designed production capacity of 1.1 million tonnes. It was
incorporated as a private limited company in 1968 and commenced full-scale
commercial operations in 1984. PSMC complex includes coke oven batteries,a
sintering plant, blast furnaces, steel converters, bloom and slab casters,
billet mill, hot and cold rolling mills, galvanizing unit and 165MW of own
power generation units, supported by various other ancillary units. It is
located 30km south east of the coastal city of Karachi, in close proximity to
Port Bin Qasim, with access to a dedicated jetty, which facilitates import of
raw materials. PSMC manufactures a wide mix of products, which includes both
flat and long products. PSMC effectively enjoys a captive domestic market due
to the prevalent demand-supply imbalance in the country's steel industry,
where demand has historically exceeded local supply.
At the back of sustained improvements in Pakistan's macroeconomic environment,
the demand for steel in the country is expected to grow further. PSMC is
uniquely positioned to take advantage of the expected demand growth as
adequate infrastructure is already in place to cater to capacity expansion.
PSMC also strives to maintain high quality and environmental standards and in
this regard has received ISO 9001, ISO 1400-1 and SA 8000 certifications,
along with the Environmental Excellence Award 2005.
During the meeting the Financial Advisor also made a presentation on the
subject and highlighted the pertinent issues requiring resolution before
offering the Pakistan Steel for bidding.
The Mr. M. Tahsin Khan Iqbal Secretary PC senior officials of Ministry of
Industries, Production & Special Initiatives, the representatives of Pakistan
Steel Mills Corporation (PSMC) and Financial Advisor and Privatisation
Commission attended the meeting.