ISLAMABAD, July 17: The Muslim Commercial Bank Group has submitted its enhanced offer to acquire 51 per cent government shareholding in the United Bank Limited.

The Privatization Commission Board will now meet on Thursday to consider the increased bid. Depending upon the recommendations of the Board, necessary approval will be taken from the Cabinet Committee on Privatization (CCoP) over the issue.

The Privatization Commission announcement on Wednesday, however, did not mention the amount of increased offer made by the MCB Group, which had earlier submitted the bid offer of Rs8.5 billion for seeking majority shares of the UBL along with the transfer of management.

An official source when contacted said that he could not say as to what was the enhanced bid, but said it was somehow closer to the Privatization Commission estimates.

The acceptance of enhanced bid will depend upon the clearance of revised funding plan by the State Bank, which is the regulator of the nationalized commercial banks (NCBs).

However, the second highest bidder, the Consortium of Abu Dhabi Group and Bestway Group c/o Bank Alfalah, has expressed its willingness to substantially increase its earlier Rs4.8 billion bid to own the UBL. But the officials said that since the bidding process was most transparent in which the Abu Dhabi Group was declared as the second highest, no re-biding could take place as per rules.

Pervez A. Shahid of Bank Alfalah and attorney of the Abu Dhabi group told Dawn that he had been directed to match the bid to seek majority shares.

“We are ready for the maximization of the bid and even ready to offer the much talked Rs12 billion price for the UBL,” he said.