A consortium comprising of textile companies has expressed its “firm intention” to acquire a majority stake i.e. 68.89% of Engro Powergen Qadirpur Limited (EPQL), a subsidiary of Engro Energy Limited.

As per a notice shared by EPQL to the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Monday, the consortium is made up of Liberty Mills Limited, Soorty Enterprises and Affinity Capital through Master Group of Industries.

“It is hereby informed that Engro Powergen Qadirpur Limited has received firm intention from Liberty Mills Limited, Zain Ashraf Mukaty, Temoor Ashraf Mukaty, Ahmed Ashraf Mukaty, Soorty Enterprise (Private) Limited, Affinity Capital (Private) Limited, Najeeb Malik, Nadeem Malik and Shahzad Malik, through the Manager to the Offer, Arif Habib Limited, to acquire control or 223,050,000 voting shares (68.89%) of EPQL, beyond the thresholds prescribed under Section 111 of the Act,” read the statement.

This will be in addition to 15.56% i.e. 50.375 million shares to be purchased under Public Offer.

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EPQL is an independent power plant (IPP) that operates a 217 MW permeate gas-based plant in Qadirpur, Ghotki.

The plant is a combined cycle plant, with 1+1+1 configuration including one gas turbine, one heat recovery system generator (HRSG), and one steam turbine.

“Engro Corporation through Engro Energy Limited holds a 68.9% stake in EPQL,” said JS Global in a note.

“EPQL has a book value of Rs15 billion (Rs 46/share) as of September 2023. The transaction size of 223 million shares at current prices will cost Rs7 billion ($25 million),” it added.

As per the PSX notice, Liberty Mills Limited and Soorty Enterprises are involved in textile manufacturing. Whereas, Affinity Capital Pvt Limited is part of the Master Group of Industries (MGI), a conglomerate with business interests in the textile, automobile, engineering and energy sectors.

As per EPQL’s latest financial results, the E&P posted a profit after tax of Rs2.51 billion in CY23.