ISLAMABAD:
The committee handling the process to fire a financial adviser for Pakistan Steel Mills’ privatisation has committed serious lapses in the evaluation exercise, resulting in the disqualification of NCBMS Consulting, according to documents close to the matter.
As a result, the consortium, led by Pak China Investment Bank, was given the financial consultancy contract on a sole bid basis.
The eight-member evaluation committee, constituted by the Privatisation Commission (PC) chairman, had technically qualified the consortium of Pak China Investment Bank.
The other partners in the consortium were Fergusons and Company (PWC), Cornelius, Lane & Mufti (CLM), Abacus Consulting, SinoSteel and Iqbal Nanjee and Company, according to sources.
The Pak China Investment Bank-led consortium got 83 scores, according to the documents of the PC.
The other consortium, which had submitted technical and financial bids for taking over the job of financial adviser, was of NCBMS Consulting Private Limited, Rehman Sarfaraz Rahim Iqbal Rafiq (RSRIR), ‘VO’ Tyazhpromexport, Rizvi, Isa, Afridi & Angell (RIAA) and SURVAL, according to the documents.
Meanwhile, the Pak-China Investment Bank-led consortium would charge a minimum Rs444.1 million as consultancy fee. The fee will go up if the government manages to privatise PSM, as the fee is worked out on the notional sale price of $100 million, it was claimed.
The government had committed with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to privatise the PSM in December this year. However, it appears that serious lapses occurred during the evaluation process.