The federal government said on Tuesday that it had approved four parties, including business groups, to potentially bid for a stake in debt-ridden Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), Reuters reported on Tuesday.

 

If the flag carrier gets privatised, it would be the country's first major privatisation in nearly two decades.

 

The government has been seeking to sell a 51-100 percent stake in the struggling national airline to raise funds and reform cash-draining State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) as envisaged under a $7 billion International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme.

 

Among the four bidding groups, one is a consortium of major industrial firms: Lucky Cement, Hub Power Holdings, Kohat Cement, and Metro Ventures.

 

Another is led by investment firm Arif Habib Corporation, and includes fertiliser producer Fatima Fertiliser, private education operator The City School, and real estate firm Lake City Holdings (Private) Limited.

 

Additionally, Fauji Fertiliser Company and Pakistani airline Airblue have been approved to bid for PIA.

 

“The pre-qualified parties will now proceed to the buy-side due diligence phase,” the Advisor to the Prime Minister (PM) on Privatisation, Muhammad Ali, said in a statement.

 

The country’s privatisation ministry said that the Cabinet Committee on Privatisation approved the transaction structure for the PIA-owned Roosevelt Hotel located in New York, including options for both outright sale and long-term lease.

 

The ministry further said that Pakistan is expecting over $100 million as a first payment during this year for the Roosevelt Hotel. 

 

During the last attempt, the minimum price of Rs85.03 billion with a Rs45 billion negative balance sheet had been set by the government to privatise PIA in October last year. However, the attempt failed because the government ended up with only one bidder, real-estate development company Blue World City, offering Rs10 billion for a 60 per cent stake.

 

Meanwhile, media reports citing Ali said that PIA’s bidding is now expected to take place in the last quarter (October-December) of this year.