ISLAMABAD: As the Privatisation Commission completes the book building process for the sale of 10 per cent shares of the Oil and Gas Development Company (OGDC) on Saturday morning, its Chairman Muhammad Zubair is apprehensive that the transaction may not meet the expected target of $815 million, mainly because of fall in oil prices. At best it can yield $780 million.

Addressing a press conference here on Friday, he said it was wrong to describe the sale of shares as ‘privatisation’ because it was an ‘ordinary transaction’ similar to the one carried out by the Musharraf government in 2006.

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According to him, during the second tenure of the Benazir Bhutto-led PPP government, 27 profit-making entities had been privatised in three years.

The OGDC share sale, he said, was the third major transaction after the United Bank Limited and the Pakistan Petroleum Limited and there was no criticism from any quarter in the PPL case. Mr Zubair said the major holdings and management of the OGDC would continue to remain with the government.

Employees also benefit from the transaction because they will be able to buy shares of their company at lower price and sell them at higher rate.

He rejected rumours about a change in the OGDC management after the sale of 10pc shares and said the government would not sell the shares to any single party in accordance with the rules and regulations set by the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP). Therefore no buyer would be able to gain control of the management.

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He said the government has approved the sale of 322m shares, of which 311m had been floated. Two third of the remaining 11m shares will go to people and one-third to OGDC employees.

Mr Zubair said the government would not sell any more shares of the company during the remaining period of its term.

He said plans to improve the management to take the OGDC to new heights of development would be implemented in a few months.

He denied that the decision to sell the shares had been taken at the behest of the International Monetary Fund. “There is no pressure of the IMF on the government. The IMF programme is given by us and not by them. We set our own milestones. Decisions are taken in the interest of the county.”

Since June, he said, the government had received $2.1 billion from the IMF and paid it $3.2bn.

Mr Zubair said the country would benefit from oil price reduction and save $3bn a year on import of oil. Additional benefits will be a reduction in fiscal deficit and a positive impact on foreign exchange reserves.

In reply to a question about the overdue payment of $800m by Etisalat, Mr Zubair said the payment had been linked to the handover of 3,500 properties to the company. Of them 21 properties will not be given to Etisalat and their prices will be adjusted in the outstanding amount.

The board of directors of the Privatisation Commission will meet here on Saturday to discuss the sale of OGDC shares.

At the request of the commission, the SECP has allowed an extension in the bidding time from Nov 7 to 1am on Nov 8.

Published in Dawn, November 8th , 2014