Commission identifies ten public sector entities for privatisation

ISLAMABAD:Privatisation Commission’s (PC) Board identified ten public sector entities (PSEs) for the privatization in line with the directives of Cabinet Committee on Privatisation (CCoP) in it’s late night sitting on Monday.

Advisor for Finance Hafeez Sheikh reportedly showed displeasure over the far slow process of privatization in the meeting of CCoP held on August 8, 2019. The CCOP directed the Privatisation Commission to expedite the process of privatization of public sector enterprises approved for privatization and further advised to hire financial advisors for at least 10 PSEs before the next CCoP meeting.

On Monday, the board headed by Federal Minister for Privatisation Mohammad Mian Soomro also approved immediate initiation of the process of hiring Financial Advisors (FAs) for privatisation of selected 10 entities in a transparent manner.

The PC did not share details of proposed 10 PSEs, however, stated that 16 point agenda was discussed in the meeting. Representatives of Ministry of Industries, Ministry of Power, Ministry of Commerce, Ministry of Finance were also present in the meeting.

Privatisation Commission also held a steering/ transaction committee meeting on the privatisation of National Power Parks Company Ltd (NPPC). The Financial Advisor briefed the Committee on Due Diligence reports & preliminary discussion on the transaction structure

The federal government is expecting to receive $2 billion through the privatisation of the 1,230MW Haveli Bahadur Power Plant and the 1,223MW Balloki Power Plant owned by NPPC. “The government had already initiated the process of privatization of two power plants, which will be completed in current fiscal year,” said an official of the Privatization Commission.

On March 20, 2019 Privatisation Commission Board after thorough deliberations approved the appointment of consortium of Credit Suisse (CS) as FA. After five months, the FA briefed the transaction committee on proposal sale of two RLNG power plants.