Pakistan in contact with Chinese and Korean investors consortium to discuss investment: Privatisation Minister

ISLAMABAD, Sept 18 (Gwadar Pro) - Federal Minister for Privatisation Mohammed Mian Soomro said on Friday afternoon that meetings with renowned investors consortium from China and Korea had been held to discuss investment.

“So far leading investors consortium from China, Korea and Russia have been interacted with, who have shown keen interest in the investment potential of Pakistan in general and steel mills in particular,” he addressed a high-level meeting.

Soomro reiterated the government’s resolve to facilitate foreign as well as local investors in line with the vision of Prime Minister to revive state-owned enterprises and turn them into profit-oriented enterprises.

“We welcome foreign investment in Pakistan and as per the vision of PM. We will provide all possible facilities and support and necessary information to investors,” he added.

In this regard, he remarked the roadshows were the most effective way of reaching out to the potential investors, which has the potential to take the marketing to the next level.

He informed that the Ministry of Privatisation had started a series of roadshows with international and national investors for the revival of Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM).  

Pakistan Steel Mills has been non-functional since 2015, and the government has come up with a unique and most feasible transaction structure for the revival of Pakistan Steel Mills. The 51% to 74% shares of a newly carved out subsidiary of PSM namely Steel Corp would be divested through a competitive and transparent bidding process.

After the publication of Expressions of Interest (EOIs) renowned national and international investors consortiums responded; consequently, the Ministry has arranged for the roadshows to start from September 13 till September 23.

The revival of Pakistan Steel Mills and its functioning on its full capacity is the prime focus of this whole process, its revival would augur well for the economy of the country by fulfilling the domestic demand for iron and steel, which currently is imported from China, Germany and Japan.

The revival of Pakistan Steel Mills (PSMC) would be a unique transaction after the closure of Steel Mills and various attempts to revive it, this is the first time after 16 years that the government has come this far.

The transaction is expected to be completed in the second quarter of next year.