LASBELLA TEXTILE MILLS MACHINERY FETCHES HIGHEST BID OF Rs.156 MILLION

Islamabad, July 20, 2006

The Privatisation Commission received the highest bid of Rs.156 million from Rais Ahmed of Karachi here today during an open bidding round for the sale on ‘as is where is’ basis of the assets including plant, machinery and equipment of Lasbella Textile Mills (LTM), a project of Iran Pakistan Industries (Pvt) Limited (IPI) situated at Uthal, District Lasbella, Balouchistan.

Shaikh Ikramullah Secretary Privatisation Commission supervised the bidding process and briefed the participants about the bidding process. He informed that the Privatisation Commission had received 43 Expression of Interest for this transaction out of which finally 16 parties reached to the bidding point. During the first round 16 domestic parties dropped their sealed bids in the bid box, which were later opened and read out by the representatives of the print and electronic media.

According to the first round results Mr. Rais Ahmed of Karachi stood first with an offer of Rs.128 million while Unique Trading Company offered Rs.75 million and remained second and Abdul Sattar Noor Mohd & Co were third with Rs.72 million. The top three bidders entered in the second round of open bidding and improved their bids with minimum increment of Rupees one million. The final round received the highest bid of Rs.156 million from Mr. Rais Ahmed. Unique Trading Company followed with Rs.155 million bid and Abdul Sattar Noor Mohd & Co offered Rs.150 million respectively. The Privatisation Commission Board will consider the highest bid received and will make recommendations for approval of the Cabinet Committee on Privatisation (CCOP).

The participants termed the bidding process as fair and transparent. It is the second transaction in the current financial year after the completion of Pak American Fertilizer, which reached the bidding point.

The machinery is part of fully integrated units of 50,000 spindles and 1100 looms with complete dyeing and finishing facilities. The plant was set up in 1976 and it started production in January 1980 but was closed down in 1983.