‘No change’ in shareholding of Pakistan’s power utility company

The major shareholder of Pakistan’s largest electricity supplier has rejected media reports of a change in the company’s shareholding structure.

In a filing with the Pakistan Stock Exchange on Thursday, K-Electric (KE) sought to clarify the situation that had emerged after media reports last week claimed that one of the power company’s purported shareholders had signed an agreement with Saudi investors to sell his stake.

An official statement said the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed by Shehryar Chishti, the owner of AsiaPak Investments Ltd, and Prince Mansour bin Mohammed Al Saud for the sale of a majority stake in the holdings of K-Electric (KE).

However, Al Jomiah Power Ltd, one of KE’s indirect shareholders, said Chishti can’t sell any stakes since he doesn’t own any shares of KES Power Limited — the majority shareholder of KE.

In its filing, the KE shared a letter by Al Jomiah Power Ltd, which stated that Chishti tried to buy stakes in the shareholding company, but the move was blocked by a court in the Cayman Islands, where KESP is incorporated.

The Grand Court of the Cayman Islands has recently ruled that “there is a serious issue to be tried” as to whether Chishti’s efforts to buy the shares were in breach of the KE’s shareholding agreement, Al Jomiah Power Ltd claimed.

It said the reports of the transaction are “intended to influence public opinion in Pakistan”.

The shareholding structure of KE and investments in the company have been in the news recently.

Last month, Shanghai Electric Power Co. (SEP) officially terminated its $1.77 billion agreement to acquire a majority stake in K-Electric after nearly a decade of stalled negotiations and regulatory gridlock.

The deal, first unveiled in 2016, involved Shanghai Electric acquiring a 66.4% stake in KE — totaling over 18.3 billion shares — from KES Power Ltd., a consortium led by Saudi Arabia’s Al-Jomaih Group, Kuwait’s National Industries Group, and the now-defunct Abraaj Group.

However, the deal had faced repeated regulatory delays, including prolonged issues around securing a National Security Certificate from the government of Pakistan — a key condition for the transaction to proceed.