ISLAMABAD, May 31: The sale of Pak Saudi Fertilizers Limited (PSFL) to Fauji Fertilizer Company Limited consortium was completed with the sale agreement signing here on Friday.

FFCL offered Rs135.85 per share for 90 per cent shares (54 million) of PSDL, the highest bid received for this public sector entity, which has yielded proceeds of over Rs8 billion.

Privatization Minister Altaf M. Saleem presided over the signing ceremony, said a PC press release.

In this first major privatization in the industry sector undertaken by the government, the sale price was within the acceptable range of the approved reference price.

The privatization minister termed the handing over of PSFL from public sector to private sector as an historic event being the biggest rupee transaction ever following the inception of Privatization Commission.

Since the establishment of PC the successive governments received Rs2.4 billion for the whole privatization conducted by them, but through the sell-off of only PSFL the proceeds are above Rs8 billion.

“It is the biggest rupee transaction in the history of the privatization of Pakistan. It would have encouraging impact over the whole process of privatization and would give great impetus to the future transactions,” the minister said.

Referring to the major privatization in the fertilizer sector, the minister expressed the hope that it would be good for all stakeholders and have direct positive impact on the agriculture sector through improved quality and better marketing of the products, improvement and increase in the crops production. The government was providing protection to the investors, banks were cooperating and the government was fully committed to the privatization programme, he added.

The CCoP members had unanimously expressed their satisfaction with the price and in commending the Privatization Commission on following a fair and transparent privatization process.

Speaking at the ceremony, FFCL MD Lt. Gen. (retd) Amjad Shuaib appreciated the PC for extending level field to the investors in a professional and most transparent manner.

He assured that improvements would be made in PSFL to further strengthen the national economy. The existing plant would be modernized with an investment of Rs750 million. Complete computerization of the unit was also included in the plan to ensure the product quality, he added.

This major investment by a local company reflected investor confidence and augured well for the planned privatization of several other major companies in the coming months. This privatization transaction will send signals to both foreign and domestic investors that the investment climate in Pakistan is very favourable. Top companies of the fertilizer sector participated in the bidding of Paksaudi Fertilizers Company.

At present the total production of fertilizer in the country is about 5.1 million tons per annum of phosphorus based fertilizer. Of the total fertilizer production per year, only 1.7 million tons (33.6%) is produced by public sector, while the rest (3.36 million tons or 66.4%) is produced in the private sector, the press release added.