Syed Zaki HussainISLAMABAD: The Privatisation Commission Board deliberated upon the report pertaining to the pre-qualification of potential investors for the revival of Pakistan Steel Mills (PSMC) in a meeting held Thursday.
Six parties submitted Statements of Qualification (SoQs) before and a pre-qualification committee was formulated to scrutinise the pre-qualified parties.
Meeting of the Privatisation Board was held under the chairmanship of Federal Privatisation Minister Mohammedmian Soomro. Federal Secretary Privatisation, Interior, board members and Chairman CDA attended the meeting.
The pre-qualified parties are leading international investors of sound rating and expressed to invest for the revival of the PSMC.
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 30 days.
The matter relating to Jinnah Convention Center (JCC) was further discussed in the meeting, while the representatives of the CDA were also present along with the chairman CDA. It was decided that the CDA will issue a consent letter to the 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 the CDA and the 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 the CDA for the 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 the Heavy Electric Complex (HEC).
The board, while considering the way forward on the privatisation of the 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 and payables thereof.
Federal Minister Mohammedmian 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 the advisors/consultants also attended the meeting.
The GoP is in the process of privatisation of the HBFCL through sale of up to 100 percent 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 the 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.
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