The real-estate development company Blue World City on Thursday made a bid of Rs10 billion to buy Pakistan International Airlines (PIA).
Pakistan’s efforts to privatise the cash-strapped PIA have faced various delays in the past.
According to the details, bids were opened for the privatisation of PIA and the government received only one bid. The Privatisation Commission had asked for a bid of at least Rs85 billion, but the bid was only Rs10 billion from Blue World City, which has been rejected.
The Privatisation Commission initially qualified 6 bidders for the privatisation of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), but 5 of them did not participate in the process.
The government had shortlisted Air Blue Ltd, Arif Habib Corporation Ltd, Air Arabia’s Fly Jinnah, YB Holdings Pvt, Pak Ethanol Pvt, and real estate consortium Blue World City for a majority stake in the national airline.
According to sources, no other group except the Blue World City Consortium has submitted documents for the bid. Blue World City Consortium made an Rs10 billion bid to privatise PIA, which was rejected.
PIA is a public limited company with approximately 96 per cent share capital held by the government and operates in various business sectors, including passenger services, ground handling, flight training, cargo, engineering and in-flight catering.
Prior to the bid for privatisation, the Privatisation Committee of the Cabinet chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar had approved the sale of 60 per cent shares of PIA and approved the reference price for the privatisation.
