PIA privatization: Govt to sell national airliner's majority shares

The federal government is considering selling the majority shares of the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), ARY News reported, citing a government official.

The Privatization Commission will decide on how many shares the government will sell as it nears the conclusion of the PIA privatization process, Coordinator to Prime Minister on Economy and Energy Bilal Azhar Kayani said during his appearance on ARY News show ‘KHABAR’.

According to him, the government was considering selling around 51% to a complete 100% shares of the national flag carrier.

Kayani said that the administrative control of the PIA will be handed over to the entity buying the majority of shares.

The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader said that work on the PIA privatization was going at a good pace, while claiming that several countries and global companies have shown interest in buying PIA.

According to him, the matters related to PIA’s retired employees were shifted to the PIA Holding Company, however, he said that the pension disbursement to the retired workers will not be hindered due to the holding company.

Meanwhile, Kayani said that the federal government was working to sort out the matters related to serving employees and a policy will soon be formed in this regard.

A day earlier, the federal government cleared the liabilities, debt and arrears of PIA after all financial losses and debts of the national airline were shifted to the withholding company before the privatization.

Officials stated that the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) has been notified about the clearance of PIA’s balance sheet.

The government has also invited bids for the privatization of Pakistan International Airlines from the buyers by May 3.

Following reforms in the PIA, the shares of the national flag carrier recorded over 650% surge during trading at the PSX.

In the last few weeks, the PIA shares jumped to Rs32 from Rs4.50. Recently, the share value of PIA rose to Rs32 from Rs27.

According to market experts, the share price is going up due to the confidence of investors after the reform process in the PIA.

With a share value of Rs32, Pakistan International Airlines became the 70th largest shareholder of Pakistan.