Hafeez forms committee for PSMC privatisation
By Adnan Rafique

ISLAMABAD—Dr. Abdul Hafeez Shaikh Federal Minister for Privatisation and Investment appointed a Committee while reviewing the progress of privatization process of Pakistan Steel Mills Corporation (PSMC) in a meeting along with Mr. Jahangir Tareen Federal Minister of Industries, Production & Special Initiatives hereon Thursday.
The Committee comprising representatives from Privatisation Commission, Ministry of Industries, Production & Special Initiatives and Citigroup. The Committee will undertake a ground check of the area being considered for core steel plant and ancillary facilities and to recommend only the strategic areas required for the operation and expansion of the entity.
The meeting was briefed regarding the process of the pre-qualification of the parties who had submitted SOQs. The Privatisation Commission received 19 Expressions of Interest in response to its invitation to offer upto 75% shareholding in Pakistan Steel Mills Corporation (Pvt) Ltd (PSMC) to a strategic investor. Out of the 19 parties, 13 parties had submitted their SOQs for the purposes of pre-qualifying and proceeding to the next stage of the privatization process.
The parties submitting SOQ include 1.Al-Tuwairqi Group Of Companies, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, with Arif Habib Group of Companies, Pakistan, 2. Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works, Russia, 3.Noor Financial Investment Company, Kuwait, 4.Shanghai BaoSteel Group Corporation, China, 5.Investment & Development Office of Government of Ras Al Khaimah, United Arab Emirates, 6.International Mineral Resources, Switzerland, 7.Aljomaih Holding Company, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia 8.International Ltd, Karachi, 9.Hassan Associates (Pvt) Ltd, Karachi, with Med-europe Commodities International s.a.l, 10.Privilege Developers (Pvt) Ltd with SEKYRA a.s, Czechoslovakia, 11.Aqeel Karim Dhedhi Securities (Pvt) Ltd, Karachi, 12.Nishat Mills Limited, Lahore and 13. System Capital Management, Ukraine.
The Financial Advisor Citigroup Global Markets had evaluated the SOQs in the light of the criteria set out in the SOQs document. The recommendations of the Financial Advisor will be placed before the PC Board for approval in its upcoming meeting.
PSMC is the country’s largest and only integrated steel manufacturing plant, with an annual designed production capacity of 1.1 million tonnes. It was incorporated as a private limited company in 1968 and commenced full-scale commercial operations in 1984. PSMC complex includes coke oven
batteries, a plant, blast furnaces, steel converters, bloom and slab casters, billet mill, hot and cold rolling mills, galvanizing unit and 165MW of own power generation units, supported by various other ancillary units. It is located 30km south east of the coastal city of Karachi, in close proximity to Port Bin Qasim, with access to a dedicated jetty, which facilitates import of raw materials. PSMC manufactures a wide mix of products, which includes both flat and long products. PSMC effectively enjoys a captive domestic market due to the prevalent demand-supply imbalance in the country’s steel industry, where demand has historically exceeded local supply.