KARACHI: AsiaPak In­­vestments, a private inv­estment firm with operational assets in Pakistan and Hong Kong, and Mid­dle Eastern oil and gas company Montage Oil have bid for a 75.01 per cent stake in Lotte Chemical Pakistan, according to a notice filed by the manager to the offer with the Pakistan Stock Exchange on Thursday.

“The due diligence and price discovery for a share price agreement is yet to happen,” Shahid Ali Habib, CEO of Arif Habib Ltd, the manager to the offer, told Reuters.

Lotte Chemical Corp, the Korean parent company, had put up the Pakistani unit for sale, citing a mismatch with its long-term vision.

But two previous deals for the company, which currently has a market capitalisation of Rs32.1 billion ($115 million), have fallen through.

First, Pakistan-based petro­chemical firm Novatex pulled its offer to buy the 75

per cent stake in 2023 and last year a unit of conglomerate Lucky Core Industries ended its deal to buy the stake for about 192.4 billion won ($132.85m).

Published in Dawn, February 14th, 2025