ISLAMABAD: A day after the completion of the bidding process, the Board of Privatisation Commission on Tuesday endorsed the highest bid price for Heavy Electrical Complex (HEC), which was the first entity-level strategic transaction since 2015.

The PC Board meeting deliberated over one-point agenda and the board members welcomed the price offered by the successful bidder for the state-run entity.

The bidding price of Rs99.99 per share or Rs1.9 billion to acquire 14.10 million shares (96.6pc stake) offered by IMS Engineering was also higher than the reserve or the reference price of Rs98.23 per share fixed by the Cabinet Committee on Privatisation (CCoP).

The commission said that the reserve price was based on extensive diligence and financial modelling that incorporated demand outlook and supply constraints.

The board recommended that the HEC bidding should now be placed before CCoP and the federal cabinet for timely completion of the tran­saction. The transaction stru­c­­ture of HEC was approved by CCoP in November 2020 and ratified by the cabinet in December the same year.

HEC, located in Hattar Industrial Estate, manufactures power transformers of 132kV and 66kV with units ranging from 6.3 to 40MVA (high-voltage) along with services for testing, repairs and onsite commissioning of transformers.

Published in Dawn, February 23rd, 2022