Govt shareholding in PPL climbs to 74.86% following SC's ruling
- Govt shareholding in Pakistan Petroleum Limited rises to 74.86%
The Government of Pakistan has reacquired PPL shares from an employee trust, increasing its direct shareholding in Pakistan Petroleum Limited from 67.51% to 74.86%.
- Government's increased shareholding in PPL.
- The Benazir Employees Stock Option Scheme (BESOS).
- The transfer of PPL shares from employee trust.
The Government of Pakistan (GoP) has transferred back the entire shareholding of 200,057,318 ordinary PPL shares from the ‘PPL Employees Empowerment Trust’ formed under the ‘Benazir Employees Stock Option Scheme (BESOS)’ to the GoP.
PPL said the transfer was made pursuant to the decision of the Supreme Court of Pakistan in C.A No. 421 to 423 of 2018, C.A No. 19-K of 2019 and CP No. 852 of 2018.
In a statement, PPL said that now GoP’s direct shareholding in PPL has increased from 67.51% to 74.86%.
As one of the largest exploration and production companies in Pakistan, PPL plays a pivotal role in exploring, prospecting, developing, and producing oil and natural gas resources.
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The GOP launched BESOS on August 14, 2009.
The scheme was designed for permanent and contractual employees of certain State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) and non-State-Owned Enterprises where the GOP held significant investment, provided they were employed on the scheme’s launch date and completed a five-year vesting period.
On October 22, 2020, the Supreme Court of Pakistan issued a detailed order, ruling that the BESOS was implemented in violation of Article 154 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.
The apex court subsequently ordered that all amounts deposited or set aside by SOEs under BESOS must be immediately transferred to the Federal Consolidated Fund.