yeah actually i dont have the brains.i sold it to pay of my 10% dues.but thank God you have them.
Russians needed the no how of pakistani steel.they had no idea how to make steel.
Haq Nawaz Akhtar who was head of the PSM between 1981 and 1986 signed a deal with a
Russian company to double its production within two years.(what an idiot Russians are they wanted to help increase pakistan steel production
).
And the point is? Are u trying to say they owned PSM or invested!
Most affected by this deal are the mill employees. Thousands of PSM workers are worried about their future in the new set-up and fear widespread retrenchment. Although the government claims that it has offered an attractive package to the employees, representatives say they are not satisfied with the offer.
(wait why isnt the Armed forces concerned about it.could it be because Russians will intorduce more to it then the governement run money sucking corporation did.and will increase the production.)
Arif Habib, head of Arif Habib Securities, said that their consortium would invest 60 million rupees in the PSM within a short period of time to increase the existing production capacity of 1.1 million tonnes to 1.5 million tones. He said running such a huge industrial unit with only 1.1 million tonnes production was not feasible
, so the consortium has to increase the plant's production
(off course that would be bad production increse is always bad for the company and the country it is in).
PSM has been handed over to the same Saudi group which plans to set up a private sector steel manufacturing unit near the Steel Mills. President General Pervez Musharraf, in fact, performed the ground-breaking ceremony of the 130 million USD Tuwairqi Steel Mills (TSM) in the Port Qasim area just a day before the bidding for the PSM.
(dam you Musharraf you make all the bad decision.for the country.didn't you realize what you could make after all 10% of 130million usd is=this is where Mr Interceptor fills in the figure)
Yeah and your point is? Its not owned by Pakistan and the mill is also for export root.
Yeah great go Musharraf really good thing
PC receives 25% of bid amount for PSMC sell-off
Staff Report
ISLAMABAD: The Privatization Commission has received Rs 5.420 billion, ie, 25 % of the total bid amount for the 75% strategic stake (1,290,487,275 shares) of Pakistan Steel Mills Corporation (PSMC) from the Consortium of Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (Russia), Tuwairqi Steel Mills (Saudi Arabia) and Arif Habib Securities.
The buyer was required to deposit 25 % of the bid amount within 20 days after the issuance of Letter of Acceptance (LoA), which was issued after the approval of the Cabinet Committee on Privatization (CCOP) on March 31. The remaining amount will be deposited within the 60 days after the issuance of LoA.
The highest offer of Rs 16.80 per share making a total of Rs 21.680 billion, ie, equivalent to $362 million was offered by the Consortium of Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (Russia), Tuwairqi Steel Mills (Saudi Arabia) and Arif Habib Securities during the two rounds of bidding, the bids were opened and read out by two senior journalists during the first round.
The CCOP had authorized the Privatization Commission to issue Letter of Acceptance to the successful bidder Consortium of Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (Russia), Tuwairqi Steel Mills (Saudi Arabia) and Arif Habib Securities whose offer was within the acceptable range.
The bidding determined the value of Pakistan Steel Mills 100 % assets at $482 million. Of the 19,000 acres of the land of the PSMC, around 14,500 acres worth about $800 million has been separated from the transaction, which will be used by the government for an appropriate project.
An agreement has been reached with the employees and they have been offered a package, which has never been given to the employees of any other entity.
The PSMC is the countryâs largest and only integrated steel manufacturing plant, with an annual designed production capacity of 1.1 million tons. It was incorporated as a private limited company in 1968 and commenced full-scale commercial operations in 1984.
The PSMC complex includes coke oven batteries, a sintering plant, blast furnaces, steel converters, bloom and slab casters, billet mill, hot and cold rolling mills, galvanizing unit and 165MW of own power generation units, supported by various other ancillary units.
It is located 40 km southeast of the coastal city of Karachi close to Port Bin Qasim, with access to a dedicated jetty, which facilitates the import of raw materials. The PSMC manufactures a wide mix of products, which includes both flat and long products. It effectively enjoys a captive domestic market due to the prevailing demand-supply imbalance in the countryâs steel industry, where demand has historically exceeded local supply.
more steel mills investments from different parts of the world with different specialized units is indeed bad for the country.private companies invest in research and development as thats how they stay ahead and profitable.on the other hand governments don't as they will pay the bills regardless if its making money or not.
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2006\04\21\story_21-4-2006_pg5_4
Opposition alleges âmanipulated biddingâ for Steel Mills
By Raja Asghar
ISLAMABAD, April 19: Opposition lawmakers in the National Assembly on Wednesday questioned the recent privatisation of Pakistan Steel Mills but failed to push for a parliamentary probe into the issue before the National Assembly was prorogued amidst protests after a 13-day session.
The government defended the deal as prudent and transparent during an opposition-inspired debate on the March 31 sale of a 75 per cent stake in the countryâs largest industrial unit to a Saudi-Russian-Pakistani consortium for $362 million.
Most opposition speakers said the Pakistan Steel Mills Corporation (PSMC) was sold too cheaply in what they saw as manipulated bidding for much costlier assets and even called into question the desirability of privatising such a vital unit built by the former Soviet Union.
Minister in charge for Privatisation Awais Ahmed Leghari rejected the oppositionâs allegations as baseless and said there was no wrongdoing in the deal, insisting the government got a good price for it, one that was higher than the reserve price.
The opposition staged two protest walkouts after Speaker Chaudhry Amir Hussain rejected a demand to use his discretion to order a vote in the house for referring the PSMC sale to the National Assemblyâs Public Accounts Committee for a scrutiny.
Besides the ministerâs speech, only a low-level defence was put up by some back-benchers of the ruling coalition that was no match to the opposition onslaught led by former interior minister Aitzaz Ahsan and Chaudhry Manzoor Ahmed of the Peopleâs Party Parliamentarians (PPP).
First the opposition members walked out after the speaker asked Mr Leghari to wind up the debate, in which 13 other members had spoken, and promised to consider the opposition demand for a vote afterwards.
They walked out in protest again after the speaker rejected PPP member Nayyar Hussain Bokhariâs motion for a vote, which the opposition would have won because of its majority in the house at the time, and started reading out the presidential order proroguing the session that had started on April 7.
Mr Leghari, whose speech was repeatedly disturbed by opposition protests, called the PSMC sale timely and in national interest and described most of opposition criticism as âaerial firingâ designed to mislead the people.
He said an open and transparent bidding was held on March 31 between two consortiums of pre-qualified parties and it was âonly after the bid crossed the (undisclosed) reserve price that we accepted itâ.
The minister also clarified that Rs6.5 billion cash reserves of the PSMC would come to the government.
He disagreed with the opposition argument against sale of profitable enterprises and said a unit could bring a good price only after it was made profitable.
Manzoor Ahmed, who opened the debate, called the PSMCâs fast-track privatisation scandalous in which, he said, the bidding was deliberately restricted to two consortiums.
He even cast doubts about the bid-winning consortiumâs Pakistani partners who, he said, might be there on behalf of some undisclosed party.
âWho is behind it? People should be told whose front-man Arif Habib is,â Mr Ahmed said while referring to Arif Habib Securities, whose other consortium partners are Tuwairqi Steel Mills of Saudi Arabia and M. Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works Open JSC of Russia.
The PPP member also found fault with the recent privatisation of the Pakistan Telecommunication Company Ltd, the Habib Bank Limited, the Karachi Electric Supply Corporation, and said the Steel Mills, which he called âmother of other industriesâ should have been kept out of the process as done in neighbouring India.
Mr Aitzaz Ahsan pointed to what he saw as a key position of the PSMC for exports and imports because of its proximity to the Gulf, the Arabian Sea, the Indian Ocean and the Pacific and said it should have been spared the sale as one of âcommanding heights of the state which canât be given to othersâ.
In support of his argument, he cited the recent reversal of a Dubai firmâs deal for the management of some American ports on the insistence of the Congress and said Pakistan would now remain an attractive market for Arabs and should not compromise on national interest merely for Arab money.
He described the Steel Mills as a sacred trust and an âornament of the mother (state)â and remarked: âThe ornament is being sold during the motherâs lifetime.â
Muttahida Qaumi Movement member Haider Abbas Rizvi defended the deal and said that it would bring the latest technology and increase steel production. But he demanded that the price of land sold with the mill be given to Sindh provincial government which, he said, had given it for the mill at a nominal price.
He also demanded settlement of issues with employees such a golden handshakes, retirement and their rights to accommodation in a steel township before the unit is handed over to the new owners.
http://www.dawn.com/2006/04/20/top4.htm
Pakistan Steel poised to earn Rs2 billion profit
By Sabihuddin Ghausi
KARACHI, May 10: What was called a âfailed project, a perpetual losing concern and a bottomless pitââ and hence auctioned off at throw-away price in June last year is now on a fast track of consolidation, operating at an average of 85 per cent plus capacity almost round the year 2006-07 and is well poised to earn Rs1.5 to Rs2 billion operational profit this year.
âWe expect to earn this profit despite an additional cost of $140 million import of coke because of the breakdown of the coke oven battery,ââ said the chairman of Pakistan Steel, (Retd) General Mohammad Javed, in an interview with Dawn in his steel mills office on Wednesday.
One of the two coke oven batteries is now under repair at a cost of about $23 million by foreign contractors. The repair work is expected to be completed by the year 2009. Till then, the chairman expects the import of coke will cost $100 million. But he is confident of maintaining the production tempo to operate at 85 to 90 per cent capacity utilisation and earn profit.
With a hefty Rs11.5 billion cash balance in hand and expectation of four to five billion rupees cash flow in coming years, General Javed is confident of paying the outstanding debt of Rs7.5 billion unpaid loan by the year 2011 and also carry out critical repairs from âour own resourcesââ.
He wants quick repair of the electric power station with a generation capacity of 140 MW so that ``we cease to import electricity from KESC as we are doing now and instead start augmenting KESCâs supply to give some relief to the people.ââ
General Javed took over as chairman in September last year from retired General Abdul Qayum for a two-year term.
He seems to be a man in a haste and wants to see the Pakistan Steel project back into business for next about 15 years after all critical repairs have been done. But he is uncertain on the future ownership of Pakistan as he replied ``I have no informationâ when he was asked whether he could confirm that Pakistan Steel is again on the hit-list of the Privatisation Commission.
Pakistan Steelâs privatisation proved to be one of the big scandals of 2006 when it was sold away for âpeanuts and on no price at allââ by the Privatisation Commission. This deal evoked an unprecedented outcry from all sections of the society. One of the judgments for which Chief Justice Chowdhry Iftikhar will be remembered for long is the annulment of this privatisation deal.
A no-confidence move against Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz could not get through the National Assembly, but created a lot of ripples in the national politics.
General Javed believes that a majority of the 19 chairmen of Pakistan Steel were kept under perpetual pressure by the senior and middle management, the suppliers and contractors who on many occasions used crude black-mailing tactics.
âPaupers came here and became billionaires,ââ he remarked. The persons who became billionaires from Pakistan Steel business now heap corruption charges on the management to get more benefits.
He wondered as to why corruption was considered to be rampant only in Pakistan Steel and named many national institutions to ask whether all these are corruption-free. âRetired General Shoib Bukhari, a former chairman was exonerated recently after 10 years of corruption charges,ââ he disclosed.
One of the landmark projects, Pakistan Steel had powerful adversaries from the day it was conceived. The Steel importers lobby, one of them based in Lahore, opposed the project in the decade of 50s. In 60s, when steel mills could have been set up with much less investment, was thwarted by the powerful US steel importers lobby. It was late Bhutto and his minister late J. A. Rahim who laid down the foundation-stone in 1974 at the present site.
One scandal followed the other when the project was in process of being set up till 1981. It was completed at a total cost of Rs25 billion. Then there were more scandals after it came into operation as it is based on imported iron ore and imported coal. There were scam stories when repairs started for one shop or the other. The marketing of about Rs30 billion (at present prices) of the steel products is another source of corruption stories.
No wonder than, of the 16 chairmen, who came to Pakistan Steel, in first 18 years, from 1981 to 1999, one was murdered after he was heaped upon with corruption charges and another remained in prison for several years with more than 20 charges. One of these chairmen was implicated in serious criminal offence and was bailed out. Hardly any of these 16 carry any fond memories of Pakistan Steel. And finally, the privatisation of Pakistan Steel was also a big scandal that still haunts the present government and is bound to be a big election issue.
http://www.dawn.com/2007/05/11/ebr1.htm
Well the steal mill is a very important unit of Pakistan and knowing that whole of Pakistan is not happy with it being sold like CJ was kicked out for opposing etc. Have a good read.
By Arshad Sharif
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan's Supreme Court on Friday blocked the sale of Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM), the country's biggest steel producer, to a Russian-led consortium in an another setback to the country's privatisation process.
The privatisation was referred to the Supreme Court after a petitioner said the plant was a "strategic asset" that was being sold to the consortium in haste at a throw-away price.
The consortium, made up of Russia's Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works Open JSC, Saudi Arabia-based Al-Tuwairqi Group of Companies and Pakistani firm Arif Habib Securities, made a bid of $362 million for a 75 percent stake in Pakistan Steel Mills at an auction on March 31.
The consortium paid 16.8 rupees per share to take control of Pakistan's only integrated steel manufacturing plant.
"The process of privatisation of Pakistan Steel Mills Corporation stands vitiated by acts of omissions and commissions on the part of certain state functionaries reflecting violation of mandatory provisions of law," the Supreme Court said in a decision.
The court said the valuation of the project and the final terms offered to the consortium had been adversely affected.
"The letter of acceptance dated March 31, 2006, and the share purchase agreement dated April 24, 2006, are declared as void and of no legal effect," the court said.
The court said the case should be sent to the Council of Common Interests, a constitutional body that considers matters of national interest.
Pakistan's privatisation programme has gone far from smoothly and the government has had to abort several sales.
The biggest privatisation of all, the $2.6 billion sale of a controlling 26 percent stake in Pakistan Telecommunication Co Ltd, was renegotiated after Emirates Telecommunications Corp (ETISALAT) said it needed more time to pay.
RAISING QUESTIONS
Arshed Arif, director at the Khadim Ali Shah Buhkari & Co brokerage, said Friday's court decision raised questions about the credibility of the privatisation process and would lead to delays.
"The court decision revealed that the privatisation process, as claimed by the government, is not at all transparent," Arif said.
"It will definitely delay the privatisation of big tickets like PSO (Pakistan State Oil) and ODGCL (Oil and Gas development Co Ltd)," he said.
"But still, in my opinion, it's beneficial for the country. It will stop the government throwing away national assets at throw-away prices," he said.
Pakistan Steel Mills plant was built by the Soviet Union and industry officials say it will need significant investment to become more competitive.
The Pakistan Steel Mills plant, 30 km (20 miles) southeast of the city of Karachi, has an annual designed production capacity of 1.1 million tonnes.
(Additional reporting By Aamir Ashraf in Karachi)
http://in.news.yahoo.com/060623/137/65c49.html
Both steal mills are forign.
