Islamabad January 20 2022: Meeting of the Privatisation Board held today under the chairmanship of Federal Minister Privatisation, Mohammed mian Soomro.
The board deliberated upon/ discussed the report pertaining to the prequalification of potential investors for the revival of Pakistan Steel Mills (PSMC). Six parties submitted SOQs before and a prequalification committee was formulated to scrutinize the pre-qualified parties.
The pre-qualified parties are leading international investors of sound rating and it is welcoming that they expressed to invest for the revival of Pakistan Steel Mills. The PC Board granted approval for pre-qualified investors/parties. The Virtual Data Room (VDR) will be opened for pre-qualified bidders for their due diligence for a period of thirty days.
The matter relating to Jinnah Convention Center (JCC) was discussed in the meeting while representatives of the CDA were also present along with the Chairman CDA, it was decided that CDA will issue a consent letter to Privatisation (as directed by the Federal Cabinet) regarding the conversion of JCC land from amenity(ies) to Commercial. The Ministry of Privatisation clarified that the infrastructure charges incurred will be borne by the successful investor.
It was also agreed upon that CDA and FAs from the Ministry of Privatisation will evaluate the property and make a comprehensive evaluation report regarding infrastructure cost in possible scenarios of land use in future for the investors, within two weeks. It was briefed to the board that after receiving the letter from CDA for conversion of plot into commercial, the VDR for the pre-qualified investors/parties will be opened.
The Privatisation Commission Board was briefed about the update on the transaction status of Heavy Electric Complex (HEC). The board while considering the way forward on the privatisation of HEC, after threadbare discussion and deliberation agreed and allowed to extend bidding date up to one month as requested by one of the potential bidders. The Board was also briefed about the updated status of legislative matters and the receivables & payables thereof.
Federal Minister Mohammed mian Soomro asked the legal team to rigorously pursue the matter and bring the money payable to the Ministry of Privatisation. Later a meeting regarding House Building Finance Company Limited (HBFCL) was also chaired by the Federal Minister, Secretary PC, board members, DG, Transaction Manager and advisors/consultants also attended the meeting. GoP is in the process of privatisation of HBFCL through sale of up to 100% shares along with management control. In this regard, Invitations of EOIs were advertised on December 27, 2021 and re-advertised on January 17, 2022 for potential investors.
The Financial Advisor Consortium (FAC) led by MCB Bank, apprised about the response of potential investors which appears encouraging. Nevertheless, it was observed that engagement with more local/ global investors is needed which would require some additional time for evaluation. Hence it was proposed by FAC to extend the date for submission of the EOIs to further increase investors’ horizon for the transaction. HBFCL privatisation is one of the prominent transactions due to be completed in 2022.
Federal Secretary Privatisation, Interior, board members and Chairman CDA attended the meeting.
