August 12, 2021: The Privatisation Board meeting was held here in Islamabad yesterday, under the chairmanship of Federal Minister Mohammedmian Soomro. The matters relating to National Power Parks Management Company Limited (NPPMCL), Jinnah Convention Center (JCC), and the corporatization of State Life Insurance Corporation (SLIC) were discussed.
The privatization of National Power Parks Management Pvt. Limited (NPPMCL) is at an advanced stage but in order to align the capital structure with the tariff, 70% of the project cost will be based on long-term financing. The matter relating to long-term financing arrangements and its capital structure with NEPRA’s determined tariff and repayment of government loans State Bank of Pakistan and local banks were contacted for commercial borrowing, a committee to that effect was also constituted by CCoP to resolve the matter. It was decided after the committee meeting that PC would recourse to commercial borrowing from local banks to replace the GoP’s excess equity and loan, the rate for debt financing is fixed by NEPRA.
The transaction committee for NPPMCL in its recent meeting agreed upon the scheme for local financing ahead of the equity process in the transaction. The PC Board recommended the scheme of debt-recapitalization and refinancing of NPPMCL in line with the recommendations of the transaction committee.
The PC Board approved the list of 12 potential bidders/investors who have shown interest in the Jinnah Convention Center (JCC) transaction. The pre-qualified parties would be allowed for due diligence of the JCC property to participate in the bidding process subsequently.
The matter relating to the corporatization of the State Life Insurance Corporation (SLIC) was also discussed. CCoP and Federal Cabinet approved the divestment of up to 20% of GoP shares in the corporation. In order to proceed further with the divestment of 20% of shares of SLIC in the proposed privatization, the corporatization of SLIC is a pre-requisite. The Ministry of Commerce will proceed for corporatization and related legislation. The PC Board decided to take up the matter with CCoP being a competent forum.
Federal Minister said that the privatization process is steadily moving towards achieving the targets set to be privatized despite the scores of inherent issues associated with each entity.
Press Release
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