Privatisation Commission (PC) has described a news item published in a section of the press on December 31, with the headline 'HBL sold at throwaway price, claims Canadian co' as misleading and misguiding.
A PC's spokesman said this in a clarification issued here on Wednesday.
He said that the parties which had submitted Expression of Interests (EoIs) for Habib Bank Limited (HBL) by June 30, 2003, were required to submit their Statement of Qualification (SoQ) for pre-qualification, to participate in the bidding process of the bank.
He further said that the representatives of PC, State Bank of Pakistan and Federal Finance Division undertook the pre-qualification process. On the basis of the SoQs of the parties, A.F. Ferguson, an affiliated firm of Pricewaterhouse Cooper, prepared detailed analysis regarding their competence to acquire a commercial bank, he added.
According to him, six parties were permitted to enter the Data Room opened on September 8, 2003, prior to their pre-qualification for bidding. However, only three parties, Agha Khan Fund for Economic Development, Central Insurance Company Limited and State Qatar Supreme Council for Economic Affairs and Investment, conducted the due diligence of the bank. These three parties were all pre-qualified by the Committee for the bidding.
All the key issues were resolved and the bidding process was made know to the potential pre-qualified bidders during two pre-bid conferences.
He mentioned that the party making an out of process offer did not enter the Data Room for due diligence opened four months back.
He asked that if they did have access to the Data Room then on what basis did they assign a value to HBL? "What does this say about the capability and quality of a party, its directors and its corporate responsibility, when without the data required to access the value of HBL, it generates a totally wild number and apparently could not even generate US $10,000 to pay for the Data Room entry fee," he added.
The spokesman further clarified that the Pre-qualification Committee did not recommend the party for pre-qualification on the basis of incomplete information, lack of management capability, unreliable financial information and overall lack of demonstrable capability.
He said that the party in a letter also informed the PC that 'they did not need to conduct a due diligence exercise and so did not require an access to the HBL Data Room, as they had all the information required by them to proceed further with the bidding process'.
Such a statement is sufficient evidence of their lack of seriousness and capability for requiring any asset, let alone HBL.
He said that any offer at this stage by an out process party was a clear attempt to undermine a successful privatisation.
There were good reasons to believe that the party was acting as a front for the lobby opposing an open, fair, transparent and successful privatisation and it should be ignored, the spokesman added.
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