ISLAMABAD, Sept 21: Abu Dhabi Group of UAE on Saturday offered the highest bid of Rs27.56 per share against the floor price of Rs26.56 per share for the remaining 30 per cent shares (22.5 million), making a total of Rs620.1 million.

The group has already acquired 70 per cent shares of Bank Alfalah (former Habib Credit & Exchange Bank) in 1997 through an open bidding.

The offer came during bidding of 28 per cent equity stake in Bank Alfalah. Sealed bids for ICP Mutual Fund-lot-A were opened by the representatives of print and electronic media, and Abamco bid of Rs175 million was declared the highest one.

The Privatization Commission recommended to the Cabinet Committee on Privatization (CCoP) to approve the bids for the two transactions.

The Privatization Commission met under chairmanship of Minister for Privatization Altaf M. Saleem, who is also chairman of the Commission.

The other party Javed Omer Vohra & Co attended the bidding but gave no offer for Bank Alfalah. The Privatization Commission had received four EoIs from interested parties for the divestment of a minimum of 28 per cent equity stake in Bank Alfalah Limited through a ‘block sale’ to the general public through an open bidding process.

The buyer will also pay for two per cent shares allocated for the employees. In case, employees do not buy these shares, the Privatization Commission would reimburse the amount received on that account to the highest bidder. For the ICP Mutual Funds, the bid received were: (I) ABAMCO Limited, Rs175 million; (II) Consortium of Arif Habib Securities Limited and Arif Habib Investment Management Limited, Rs125.1 million; (III) Charless Schmitt & Associates Limited (CSA), Hong Kong, Rs63 million; (IV) Consortium of Pakistan Kuwait Investment Company (Pvt) Ltd and Al Meezan Investment Management, Rs102.01 million; and (V) Pakistan Industrial Credit & Investment Corporation Ltd (PICIC), Rs162.5 million. Sulaiman Ahmad Al Hoqani from UAE, though deposited the earnest money, did not turn up for the bidding.

The three highest bidders — ABAMCO Limited, Arif Habib Investment Management and PICIC — were asked to raise their bids in the second phase of open bidding round but all the three declared that they have given their final offer. Therefore, ABAMCO Limited was declared the highest bidder.

For the sale and transfer of the management rights of lot ‘A’ of ICP Mutual Funds, the Privatization Commission had recommended nine parties for pre-qualification. The Privatization Commission had received 16 EoIs from local and foreign Fund Managers. The successful bidder will manage the Fund under the rules prescribed by the Securities Exchange Commission of Pakistan.

Bidding was also held for the acquisition of 75 per cent government-owned share of Lyallpur Chemical & Fertilizers Limited (LC&FL) and 25 per cent shares of a private company which authorized the Privatization Commission to sell them. The bidding opened with Rs120 per share floor price for 100 per cent shares with a minimum increase of one rupee per share but could not proceed further as the participating two bidders did not make any offer. Chanar Sugar Mills Ltd Lahore and Sitara Chemical Group of Industries, Faisalabad, insisted to substantially reduce the floor price. This was not acceptable to the Privatization Commission. As such the bidding process was cancelled.

The Privatization Commission Board reviewed the implementation status of various transactions, which included Pakistan State Oil, OGDCL, HBL, POL, NITL and offering of additional shares of NBP. A road show for NBP shares offer for sale has been planned at Karachi Stock Exchange on September 24, 2002. The Board members and senior officials of the respective ministries attended the meeting.