Assembly in which they had expressed apprehensions regarding the privatisation of NITL, a spokesman of the Privatisation
Commission stated that the transaction was proceeding on track in a transparent manner as per prescribed procedures.
2. He explained that the proposed NITL privatisation was a complex transaction which has been in progress for a number of years. Issues relating to the Letter of Comfort holders, pre-qualification of bidders and timing of the transaction etc. are under active discussion / consideration in consultation with concerned Ministries and are expected to be resolved soon, where-after final date of bidding would be announced.
3. The spokesman further clarified that according to the approved transaction structure, 47.75% of total NITL units (i.e. the units not covered by the Letters of Comfort issued by the Ministry of Finance) would be divided into 3 equal parts and management rights of each part sold to three different parties at the highest bid price. Hence no one party could purchase management rights to more than 16% holding.
4. In view of the large number of parties which had expressed interest in the transaction and which had attended the pre-bid meeting on 24th April, 2007, the Privatisation Commission expected very competitive bidding.
5. The spokesman further stated that the National Assembly Standing Committee on Privatisation & Investment was kept fully apprised and provided with complete details of all transactions in which they had indicated interest. Apart from one meeting which was postponed due to absence of the Privatisation Minister on official tour abroad, no meeting was postponed at the instance of the Privatisation Commission.
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