Pakistan International Airlines receives five bids for privatization
Arif Habib, Younus Brothers, Fauji Fertilizer Company Limited among bidders for PIA; Fauji Fertilizer also submits separate bid
Haris Zamir
Business Editor
Experience of almost 33 years where started the journey of financial journalism from Business Recorder in 1992. From 2006 onwards attached with Television Media worked at Sun Tv, Dawn Tv, Geo Tv and Dunya Tv. During the period also worked as a stringer for Bloomberg for seven years and Dow Jones for five years. Also wrote articles for several highly acclaimed periodicals like the Newsline, Pakistan Gulf Economist and Money Matters (The News publications)
PIA airplane
Pakistan's Privatization Commission has received bids from five groups for buying up to a 100% stake in the national flag carrier, the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA).
According to the statement of Privitazation Commission, out of the eight interested groups following five interested bidders submitted Statement of Qualification (SOQ).
These are: 1- Consortium comprising Lucky Cement Limited, Hub Power Holdings Limited, Kohat Cement Company Limited and Metro Ventures (Private) Limited, 2- Consortium comprising of Arif Habib Corporation Limited, Fatima Fertilizer Company Limited, City Schools (Private) Limited and Lake City Holdings (Private) Limited, 3- Fauji Fertilizer Company Limited, 4- Air Blue, 5- Consortium comprising Augment Securities & Investments (Private) Limited and Serene Air (Private) Limited, Bahria Foundation, Mega C&S Holding, Equitas Capital LLC.
The other three companies that had submitted expressions of interest were AKD Group, Habib Rafique Engineering and Sardar Muhammad Ashraf D Baloch Ltd.
The SOQs submitted by the parties will be evaluated by the Privatisation Commission against the prequalification critera and the prequalified parties will proceed to the next stage where they will be given access to the virtual data room to undertake buy-side due diligence.
The Privatization Commission had extended the deadline to submit bids for PIA from June 3 to June 19.
In a bid to tackle its financial crisis, Pakistan is looking to sell a 51%-100% stake in PIA. However, past attempts to privatize the carrier have faced challenges.
A previous attempt to privatize PIA in 2024 failed after the government received just one offer from the Blue World City consortium. The bid — PKR 10 billion for a 60% stake — fell far short of the Privatization Commission's benchmark valuation of PKR 85 billion and was consequently rejected.
The current plan offers a simplified and cleaner transaction compared to the earlier failed attempt, which offered 60% of shares with an optional 15% top-up. Back then, PIA's negative equity of PKR 45 billion and 18% GST on aircraft were key roadblocks.
For the year ended December 2024, the airline posted an operating profit of approximately PKR 9.4 billion and a net profit of PKR 26.03 billion, with earnings per share rising to PKR 5.01. This marks a sharp turnaround from 2023, when the company reported a net loss of PKR 104 billion, equivalent to a loss of PKR 20 per share.
The last time PIA reported an annual profit was in 2004, when it posted after-tax earnings of PKR 2.3 billion. In the years that followed, the airline accumulated over PKR 600 billion in losses between 2005 and 2024, reflecting a prolonged period of financial decline.
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