ISLAMABAD: Finance Minister Ishaq Dar will review the progress on privatization process of Habib Bank Limited and other State Owned Entities (SOEs) placed on list of privatization today (Monday).
Privatization Commission (PC) expects proceeds of about $ 600 million dollars out of selling a stake in Habib Bank Ltd (HBL). The government owns 609 million shares of Habib Bank, or a 42%t stake, and it will offer a minimum of 250 million shares.
“In this regard, the Finance Minister will chair a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Privatization (CCOP) to analyze efforts as well as targets achieved by Privatization Commission (PC) in privatization process so far” ” a well placed source at Finance Ministry informed.
Federal Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi , Commerce Minister Khurram Dastgir, Finance Division Advisor Rana Assad Amin, Privatization Commission Chairman Mohammad Zubair, Privatization Commission Secretary Ahmed Nawaz Sukhera and other senior officials are likely to attend the meeting.
While, PC Chairman Muhammad Zubair will give a detailed presentation on the efforts carried out by PC to sell of Government of Pakistan shares in the SOEs placed on the list for privatization.
To date, PC has completed or approved 170 transactions at gross sale price of Rs 544.090 billion. About 59% of the proceeds received were transferred to the Federal Government, 34% was returned to legal entities whose shares were sold, 5% was used for restructuring expenses associated largely with golden handshakes and rehabilitation, and 2% was used for PC’s privatization-related expenditures.
While almost all the transactions were settled in local currency, about 66.3% of the proceeds have been received in foreign exchange from transactions pertaining to Kot Addu Power Plant (KAPCO), Oil & Gas Concessions, Habib Credit & Exchange Bank, United Bank Limited, Habib Bank Limited, KESC, PTCL, OGDCL and UBL.
PC has announced that the Habib Bank Limited (HBL) shares being offered pursuant to the proposed domestic and international offerings, have not been and will not be registered under the US Securities Act of 1933 or any US state securities laws, or qualified for distribution under the securities laws of Australia, Canada,
The People’s Republic of China or Japan, nor has a prospectus been approved that would allow the Securities to be offered to the public in the European Economic Area.
