April 8, 2006	Saturday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 9, 1427

KARACHI, April 7: Emirates Telecommunication Corporation (Etisalat) on Friday paid another instalment of $640 million as final payment of $1.4 billion to acquire PTCL, sources at the Privatisation Commission said.

Etisalat will pay another $1.2 billion in the next four and half years. The company had paid $260 million as seed money in June 2005 and made another payment of $500 million on March 31 this year.

According to the agreement, the company had to pay a cumulative $1.4 billion to acquire the management of PTCL. It will have to make a total payment of $2.6 billion.

PTCL, which has a very attractive track record of high profits, was sold to Etisalat, a UAE-based company having good experience of telecommunication in the Middle East.

Although the government has sold 26 per cent shares of PTCL, it will have to hand over the telecom company to Etisalat. The reason is that the shares acquired by Etisalat were of ‘A’ class and in terms of value these shares are equal to 51 per cent shares. PTCL shares have been classified in two groups.

Etisalat had won the PTCL shares in the open bidding but later on it backed out of the deal which resulted in lot of activities from the government side and finally the UAE-based company returned to the point.

However, Etisalat has succeeded in getting some relaxation in the original agreement. The Cabinet Committee on Privatisation approved the deal by amending the structure of the transaction, allowing the company to complete the payment by the end of 2010.