PIA’s ping-pong |
THE ping-pong match for the sale of our national airline lasted all of 90 minutes. The game began at 5pm on Dec 23.
It had been scheduled for 4pm. The unexplained delay hardly mattered. Bidders who wanted their own airline would certainly wait another hour.
Unlike the first privatisation ‘loot’ sale of 31 units, held in a meena bazaar atmosphere on the lawns of the Privatisation Commission (PC) in May 1991, the auction of PIA’s shares took place in a five-star hotel, before television cameras and the press, to ensure ‘transparency and competitiveness’. On offer were 75 per cent of PIA shares, with an option to buy the remaining 25pc.
In an earlier attempt in 2024, the PC received only one offer — from the Blue World City consortium. Its bid of Rs10bn for a 60pc stake in PIA was embarrassingly less than the PC’s valuation of Rs85bn, and therefore rejected. PIA reappeared in the market this month.
What will the state do with the Rs135bn realised from the sale?
Undaunted by the PC’s preamble that “PIA has lost Rs800bn over the last 20 years”, three bidders — Lucky Cement consortium, Airblue, and the Arif Habib consortium — prepared for the........