ISLAMABAD: Pakistan government has announced inclusion of State Life Insurance Corporation (SLIC) as well as Islamabad Electric Supply Company (IESCO) and part of Lahore Electric Supply Company (LESCO) in active list of privatisation programme.

Total statutory fund of State Life Insurance Corporation (SLIC) stands at Rs.707.388 billion in 2017.

The Investment Portfolio of State Life as at 31.12.2017 stands at Rs.688.721 billions.

Investment portfolio also includes investment in Real Estate which stands at a book value of Rs.3.185 billion as at 31.12.2017 whereas it fair value is around Rs.35.079 billion in the same period.

SLIC is smoothly striving towards its objective of making life insurance available to large section of the society by extending it to common man. As at December, 2017 the total number of policies enforce under individual life were 5.695 million and number of lives covered under group life insurance were 3.267 million.

Meanwhile, Adviser to the Prime Minister on Finance & Revenue Dr. Abdul Hafeez Shaikh chaired a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Privatisation (CCoP) to discuss five agenda items related to the ongoing privatisation programme of the government.

The meeting approved inclusion of State Life Insurance Corporation (SLIC) as well as Islamabad Electric Supply Company (IESCO) and part of Lahore Electric Supply Company (LESCO) in Active List of Privatisation Programme.

The meeting further considered a proposal for delisting of Telephone Industries of Pakistan (TIP) from the Privatisation Programme and approved it in view of the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication’s plan to revive the TIP through a joint venture which had already been undertaken in consultation with the TIP employees and Privatisation Commission.

The CCOP also approved a proposal by the Ministry of Privatisation for following a hybrid option for the privatisation of National Power Parks Management Company Limited (NPPMCL) comprising two RLNG based power plants namely 1223 MW Balloki Power Plant and 1230 MW Haveli Bahadur Power Plant and instructed the Privatisation Commission to complete the bidding process by end December.

Under the approved plan, if the highest bidder for both plants remains the same, the bidder would be offered to buy the combined entity and in case the highest bidder for both plants is different, the demerger would become a Condition Precedent (CP) to Transaction Closing (SPA).

There would a divestment of 100 % equity of stake of NPPMCL or both power plants.

Towards the end, the Privatisation Commission briefed the CCOP on the 10 public sector entities (PSEs) approved for inclusion in the Active Privatisation List as per CCoP decision on 08.08.2019 and the subsequent process and placement of advertisements for hiring of financial advisers for the same PSEs which include 1) Guddu Power Plant (747 MW) – Central Power Generation Company Ltd-CGPL (GENCO-II), 2) Nandipur Power Plant (425 MW)- Northern Power Generation Company Ltd –NPGCL (GENCO-III), 3) House Building Finance Corporation (HBFC), 4) Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL), 5) Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL), 6) First Women Bank Limited (FWBL), 7) Heavy Electrical Complex (HEC), 8) Pakistan Engineering Company (PECO), 9) Sindh Engineering Limited (SEL) and 10) Pakistan Re-Insurance Co Ltd. (PakRe).

Edited by Nayyar Iqbal