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| Shareholder backlash: paramilitary forces patrol during a protest at the Karachi Stock Exchange on July 17. Hundreds of angry investors, upset by plunging share prices, demanded a temporary closure of the market |
On the slab over the next year are expected to be significant state holdings in National Bank of Pakistan, Habib Bank and United Bank. Pakistan Steel Mills, the country’s largest steel mill operator, in which the state owns a 10% stake, is also expected to raise a significant chunk of change for the country’s embattled government. Also up for sale between now and end-June 2009 are companies including Hazara Phosphate Fertilizers (state owns 90%), Jamshoro Power (51%) and Faisalabad Electric Supply (56%). Many of the investors are expected to be global private equity firms such as Texas Pacific Group and Carlyle, and cash-rich Gulf-based corporates and sovereign wealth funds. "Private equity is active and growing, primarily driven by Middle East based sponsors," says Soofian Zuberi, head of Asian equity capital markets at Merrill Lynch in Hong Kong. "The government has announced a privatization programme over the next 12 months – featuring banks, a steel mill and other assets – and, given the government’s aim to reduce the budget deficit, those deals need to be done.
