Proposed Picic Bank: consultants to prepare post-merger management plan

The Transition Management Committee of Picic and Picic Commercial Bank boards decided on Wednesday to appoint Business Management Consultants to prepare a post merger management plan for the proposed bank.
A meeting chaired by Altaf. M. Saleem, Chairman Picic, the committee approved the terms of references (ToR) for the appointment of the management consultants. The selected consultant will have to prepare a business plan, which would be approved by the transition management committee.
The consultants will be responsible for suggesting the management strategy for business planning, developing a business model for financing the SMEs, development of consumer products, training of employees and restructuring both the organisations (Picic & Picic Commercial Bank) after the merger.
The committee reviewed the progress of the merger process of the two entities and noted that the State Bank of Pakistan is 'actively considering' the application of amalgamation. The committee also decided that a new business plan should convert the proposed 'Picic Bank,' a vibrant and aggressive consumer bank after the merger of the two financial institutions.
The merger would be carried out after the approval of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and the shareholders in the extra-ordinary general meeting. It was decided that while the existing employees will be trained in modern banking, the best talent would also be hired from the market for the growth and development of the proposed bank.
It may be recalled that the board of directors of Picic and Picic Commercial Bank Limited (PCBL) in their separate meetings, on November 27, 2005 had approved the swap ratio for the merger, whereby 1.87 shares of PCBL will be equal to one share of Picic.
Picic was estab1ished in 1957 to finance the industrial projects in the private sector and boost the economy of the country. It played a major role in this regard and most of the industries set up during the sixties, seventies and eighties were financed by Picic.
Picic acquired Gulf Commercial Bank in 2001 and renamed it Picic Commercial Bank. Picic Commercial Bank's deposits and its branch network have expanded considerably after its acquisition.
Picic Asset Management Company (AMC) was established in the year 2004 with a paid-up capital of Rs 3 billion. Picic acquired Investment Corporation of Pakistan (ICP) Lot B Mutual Funds (Now called Picic Investment Fund-PIF) and ICP SEMF (Now called Picic Growth Fund-PGF) on 24th October 2002 and 22nd March 2003 respectively. The new Picic Energy Fund would be the first sector-dedicated fund available to investors, for extracting concentrated returns from this sector.