KARACHI, Nov 26: Al-Jumaih investors group of Saudi Arabia will make the second and final instalment of $165 million on Monday for the acquisition of 73 per cent shares of Karachi Electric Supply Corporation.
Reliable sources informed Dawn on Saturday that a team of executives of Al-Jumaih was arriving in Pakistan on Sunday to deposit the amount to the PC on Monday.
KESC is holding an annual general meeting of shareholders on November 30, and the ownership and management of the utility will be handed over to Al Jumaih on December 1 at a ceremony in Karachi.
A German, who has the experience of managing a utility in East Germany, will be the executive chief of the new owners. A British chartered accountant will be the chief financial officer of the new team.
The prospective owners and managers have already announced to retain managers and engineers of the government management on their positions and have given a firm commitment of no retrenchment or rendering any employee jobless.
The handing over of the management and ownership of KESC to Al-Jumaih on December 1 will mark the end of government control and privatization process of the power utility which was launched in 1997 but put into operation late last year. The PC invited expressions of interest and shortlisted the prospective investors and bids were finally invited on February 4 this year. Kanooz al Watan offered Rs1.65 per share for KESC and Rs20.24 billion for 73pc of the shares.
In subsequent developments, the Saudi investor group backtracked and sought extensions. The PC secretary flew to Saudi Arab to persuade the group to stay in the process. After having failed in their efforts to get Kanooz al Watan keep up the transaction, the PC finally put a seal to it in June and offered Hasan Associates to match the highest bid.
