April 06, 2007	Friday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 17, 1428

KARACHI, April 5: The Board of Privatisation Commission has decided to disqualify Attock Group of Companies from participation in privatisation of Pakistan State Oil (PSO).

The board meeting, chaired by Federal Minister for Privatisation and Investment Zahid Hamid, on Thursday also extended the date of bidding by two weeks from May 5 to 19.

A press release issued by the PC in Islamabad on Thursday said that the Board of Privatisation Commission had decided to “accept the recommendations of the Pakistan State Oil privatisation Transaction Committee for disqualification of Attock Group of Companies from participation in the privatisation process of PSO”.The press release noted that the decision was taken in accordance with PC law, rules, regulations and procedures and keeping in view the guidelines contained in the judgment of the Supreme Court of Pakistan in the Pakistan Steel Mills case.

PC placed the blame on Attock Group for “inter-alia non-disclosure of material information as required in the Request for Statement of Qualification (RSOQ)”, which the Commission said had rendered the Group liable for disqualification.

The chairman PC said that due to the above it had been decided to disqualify Attock Group of Companies and to reject its SoQ. The chairman also stated that the Board had decided to take forward the date of bidding for PSO by a few days till May 19.

He observed that the commission had accepted the request of some of the prospective bidders, who wanted a little more time to conduct their studies. The financial adviser to the PC Board had endorsed and recommended the slight extension in time, he said.

The PC mentioned that corresponding amendments would be made in the indicative time-line issued to the pre-qualified parties by the financial adviser.

The PC Board also decided that the status of the transaction would be kept under review and the tentative dates mentioned in the indicative time-line would be kept under review as the process progresses.Earlier on April 2, the PC had announced the seven (7) parties who had been qualified for participation. They had completed the first phase of due-diligence.

The names of those parties along with their proposed consortium members included: i) Al Jamaih Holding Company Consortium including Noor Investment Company and Fauji Foundation; ii) Dabbagh Holding Company Limited Consortium including Savola Group and Goldman Sachs; iii) Bakri Energy Company Consortium with Salsal Petroleum; iv) Kohinoor Textile Mills Consortium including Oman Oil Marketing Company; v) MCB Bank Limited Consortium with Petronas Intl. Ltd; vi) TransAsia Gas Intl; and vii) Vitol S.A.At the meeting, the PC Board also reviewed the status of the privatisation transactions in the pipeline. Those included initial public offering (IPO) of Habib Bank Limited, Global Depository Receipts (GDR) of United Bank Limited and the privatisation of National Investment Trust (NIT).

Analyst feared that the development in the matter of PSO privatisation could mark another set-back to the transaction. The country had first expressed its interest to sell majority stake with management control in Pakistan’s biggest oil marketing company as far back as in 2004.