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Dr. Abdul Hafeez Shaikh Federal Minister for Privatisation and Investment
will chair a pre-bid conference of the pre-qualified bidders for Pakistan
Steel Mills Corporation (PSMC) being held at Islamabad on Monday (January 16,
2006) in the afternoon for better understanding of the transaction and the
bidding process and to respond to the queries of the bidders.
The pre-qualified parties have completed the due diligence of the transaction
through plant visits, physical and virtual data room. They have also conveyed
their comments on bidding documents.
Five (5) pre-qualified parties, which shall be attending pre-bid conference,
include 1. Al-Tuwairqi Group of Companies, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia with Arif
Habib Group of Companies, Pakistan. 2. Government of Ras Al Khaimah (UAE), 3.
International Industries Ltd (Pakistan) and Industrial Union of Donbass
(Ukraine), 4. Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works Open JSC, Russia and 5. Noor
Financial Investment Company, Kuwait.
The Privatisation Commission has offered to qualify strategic Investors
interested for acquiring 75% equity stake in Pakistan Steel Mills Corporation
(Pvt) Ltd. ("PSMC" or the "Company"), together with management control, on an
' as is, where is' basis. A consortium led by Citigroup Global Markets Limited
is advising the PC on the sale.
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 165 MW of own
power generation units, supported by various other ancillary units. It is
located 40 km 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.