KARACHI, June 14: The Saudi Arabia’s Kanooz-al-Watan Group that made the highest bid for a 73 per cent stake in the Karachi Electric Supply Corporation in February may lose its claim to the army-run power utility if it does not deposit the bid money on Wednesday the last day for depositing the amount.

The group offered Rs15.86 billion for the stake in the loss-making power utility.

A spokesman for the Privatization Commission told Dawn from Islamabad that if the group did not deposit the bid money on Wednesday, the government would ask the second highest bidder, Hassan Associates, to match the bid offered by Kanooz-al-Watan.

“Under the rules, if the highest bidder does not pay the amount within the stipulated period, the second highest bidder is asked to match the bid,” explained the spokesman.

He declined to say what the Privatization Commission would do if Hassan Associates refused to match the bid money.

However, the sources said that if Hassan Associates refused to match the bid money, the Privatization Commission would call a new auction. They said chances were that Hassan Associates might not take part in the auction any more.