March 31, 2006	Friday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 1, 1427

ISLAMABAD, March 30: All arrangements have been finalized to hold bidding for a 75 per cent strategic stake in Pakistan Steel Mills Corporation (PSMC) here on Friday. According to a press release issued here on Thursday, two consortia had deposited the earnest money of $30 million each within the stipulated time.

Nine parties had been pre-qualified, out of which eight conducted due diligence. And out of these, five parties attended the pre-bid meeting. Six pre-qualified parties have joined to form two consortia.

The participating consortia include: (I) M. Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works Open JSC (Russia), Tuwairqi Steel Mills (Saudi Arabia and Arif Habib Securities; and (ii) Noor Financial (Kuwait, Industrial Union of Donbass (Ukraine, Government of Ras Al Khaimah and Al-Jomaih Holdings (Saudi Arabia).

The bidding will be held in the presence of the representatives of print and electronic media. The pre-qualified parties have completed their due diligence of the transaction, including plant visits and physical/virtual data room.

Pakistan Steel is the country’s largest and only integrated steel manufacturing plant, with an annual designed production capacity of 1.1 million tons. It was incorporated as a private limited company in 1968 and commenced full-scale commercial operations in 1984. PSMC complex includes coke oven batteries, a sintering plant, blast furnaces, steel converters, bloom and slab casters, billet mill, hot and cold rolling mills, galvanizing unit and 165mw of own power generation units, supported by various other ancillary units.

It is located 40km southeast of Karachi, in close proximity to the Port Bin Qasim, with access to a dedicated jetty which facilitates import of raw materials. PSMC manufactures a wide mix of products, which includes both flat and long products.