September 11, 2007	Tuesday	Sha'aban 28, 1428

ISLAMABAD, Sept 10: Federal Minister for Privatisation and Investment Wasi Zafar on Monday directed the officials to expedite the sell-off process of five major transactions.

The minister issued these directives while reviewing the privatisation status of SME Bank, Jamshoro Power Company (JPC), Faisalabad Electric Supply Company (FESCO), Heavy Electrical Complex, Motels and Restaurants of PTDC and other transactions.

Regarding SME Bank, the minister asked the concerned officials to finalise the transaction structure at the earliest. A Financial Advisory Services agreement for the privatisation of SME Bank had already been signed between the Privatisation Commission and BMA Capital.

Mr Zafar said that the government was determined to transfer the benefits of privatisation

to general masses Pakistan under the ‘Privatisation for the People’ programme and directed the officials to line up more initial public offerings (IPOs) and secondary public offerings (SPOs).

The meeting was also informed that the sell-off of Jamshoro Power Company (JPC) was at an advanced stage and five parties had been pre-qualified for the transaction, which included Al Abbas Power Generation Limited, China National Machinery and Equipment Import and Export Corporation, Engro Chemical Pakistan Ltd, Metro Securities Limited and United Bank Limited Consortium.