By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: The government will invite fresh bids next week to privatize Pakistan International Airlines Corp. (PIA), the privatization ministry said on Thursday, doubling down on efforts to sell the debt-strapped flag carrier after a failed first attempt drained $4.3 million in public funds.
The Privatization Commission approved eligibility criteria for investors to acquire a 51 percent to 100 percent stake in PIA during a meeting led by Chairman Muhammad Ali, who also serves as Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s privatization adviser. The reset comes as Islamabad races to meet a self-imposed May deadline to conclude the sale, critical to unlocking further International Monetary Fund (IMF) support for Pakistan’s crisis-hit economy.
Its failed attempt to privatise PIA last year received a single offer, well below the asking price of more than $300 million.
Bidders at the time cited concerns over taxation and the airline’s bloated balance sheet. Since then, authorities have offloaded nearly all of PIA’s legacy debt onto government books and implemented sweeping reforms to make the carrier more appealing to investors.
“The Board approved the pre-qualification criteria for selection of potential bidders for privatisation of 51pc to 100pc shares of Pakistan International Airlines Corporation Limited (PIACL),” the commission said in a statement. “A fresh advertisement for [the] expression of interest for the demerger of PIACL is planned to be published next week.”
The catalyst for the renewed optimism is PIA’s financial turnaround. Last month, the airline reported operational earnings of Rs9.2 billion for the year ended December 2024, culminating in a net profit of Rs26.2 billion — its first since 2003. For years, PIA had relied on government bailouts as debt-servicing costs devoured its operational revenue, with the carrier facing threats of shutdown, plane impoundments, and flight cancellations due to unpaid bills.
The government plans to complete the airline’s privatisation before the end of this year.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif last year announced plans to sell all SOEs.
The adviser in his last week’s statement said that the process to privatise power distribution companies had also started, terming it a “high priority transaction”.
He said some companies previously due to be sold in the second phase were being pushed into the first phase.
The adviser said the government had appointed Jones Lang LaSalle to advise on exploring different sales options for the PIA-owned Roosevelt hotel building in Manhattan, New York.
They include selling the building as it is or opting for a joint venture with a top-tier developer, which has the potential to generate proceeds five times higher, Ali said.
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