Arif Habib | Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: Arif Habib — chairman of the investment firm that headed the consortium that won the auction for a controlling stake in Pakistan International Airlines Corporation Ltd (PIACL) — has said the privatisaton of the national flag carrier would lead to an increase in employment in the airline as the new owners were looking to expand its business. An Arif Habib group-led consortium had won the auction for the airline with a bid of Rs135 billion last week after a competitive process, marking the country’s first major privatisation in nearly two decades. The investment firm‘s chairman spoke about the development on DawnNewsTV programme ‘Doosra Rukh’ — televised on Monday night — where he was asked about PIA employees’ concerns, reservations and protests regarding their jobs against the backdrop of the airline’s privatisaion. In response, Habib said the “number of staff [in the airline] was reasonable”, adding that the privatisation would in fact increase employment on the whole as an expansion was planned a...

ISLAMABAD: A successful bid of Rs135bn by Arif Habib won the auction for Pakistan International Airlines Corporation Ltd (PIAC) after the process moved to an open auction round at a ceremony in Islamabad, marking the country’s first major privatisation in nearly two decades. Initially, pre-qualified bids were submitted by Lucky Cement, private airline Airblue and investment firm Arif Habib in the morning. Airblue exited the race after the first round of bidding, with a proposition lower than the reference price of Rs100bn. In the first round, Lucky Cement put up a bid of Rs101.5bn, Airblue Rs26.5bn, and the Arif Habib consortium bid Rs115bn, after which the reference price was announced. Following that, a 30-minute break was taken so that the two top bidders could hold consultations. A second round was then commenced. It began with the base bid at Rs115bn, and the minimum increment was at Rs250 million. The base price was set on the basis of the highest bid made during the first round by Arif Habib. Both bidd...