Privatisation Commission (PC) will finalise next week a schedule for road shows to carry out secondary public offering (SPO) of Habib Bank Limited (HBL). An official of PC said that a delegation would leave for New York, London and Hong Kong on February 20. However, a final decision would be taken in the upcoming PC Board''s meeting, he added.
The official said that the capital transaction of HBL would hopefully be completed by the first week of March, for which the consortium of Credit Suisse and Deutsche Bank had already been appointed as financial advisers. The capital market is performing very positively and international buyers are showing a keen interest in the upcoming capital transaction of HBL, the official maintained.
Umair Naseer, Researcher Topline Securities (pvt), Karachi, told Business Recorder that capital market is performing positively and this is a suitable time for capital market transaction of HBL. He further said that the share value of HBL is Rs 210 and the government has to offer some discount rate on the shares for local and foreign investors.
The government is expecting around $1.2 billion from the sale of HBL shares through global depository receipts (GDRs). The official further said the commission has set a target to dispose of as many as 18 state-owned entities (SOEs) in the current calendar year; and eight Discos would be privatised on priority basis. The strategic sale of a minimum 88 percent government shares in National Power Construction Corporation (NPCC) and Heavy Electrical Complex (HEC) is also included in the list of 18 SOEs, he added.
The Cabinet Committee on Privatisation (CCoP) had already approved the capital market transaction of HBL, Discos, strategic sale of a minimum 88 percent government shares in NPCC and the divestment of a minimum 96 percent government shares in HEC together with management control.
These two entities - NPCC and HEC - were at the last stage of privatisation during the rule of Pakistan People''s Party but the previous government did not complete the process. "We have started the HEC bidding process by relaxing some conditions as previous government made as many as seven attempts to dispose of the entity but failed," he added.
As the government is considering privatising NPCC, the PC has proposed to PC Board to engage the services of a reputable financial advisory consortium to assist in NPCC privatisation.
The government is committed to selling 32 entities. It has finalised a three-pronged strategy, which consists of 11 capital market transactions, 17 strategic private sector partnerships that include Pakistan International Airlines and Pakistan Steel Mills and restructuring of three entities, which are to be completed in three to five years.
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