PIA Auction in Jeopardy as Just One Bidder Submits Earnest Money

Only one of the six companies (Blue World City), prequalified for the privatization of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), has formalized interest ahead of the bidding date of October 31 by submitting earnest money by Tuesday’s deadline.   According to a report in Bloomberg, the other five consortiums have stayed away from the final bidding process of PIA. Quoting the Privatization Ministry’s spokesperson, the publication said that only one bidder deposited earnest money with the Privatization Commission.   However, the spokesperson did not disclose the name of the group that had submitted the earnest money.   It is pertinent to mention here that the Privatization Commission, after detailed deliberations and keeping in view the criteria including technical, financial, and documentary requirements stipulated in the request for statement of qualification (RSoQ), decided to pre-qualify six interested parties.   The parties were (1) Fly Jinnah Limited, (2) Air Blue Limited, (3) Arif Habib Corporation Limited, (4) Consortium Led by Y.B. Holdings (Private) Limited (Consortium members comprises Pioneer Cement Limited, Artistic Milliners Limited, ANS Capital Private Limited, Metro Ventures Private Limited), (5) Consortium Led by Pak Ethanol (Consortium members comprises AirSial Limited, Serene Airlines Private Limited, Liberty Daharki Power Limited), and (6) Consortium Led by Blue World City (Consortium members comprises Blue World Aviation, IRIS Communication Limited).   It remains to be seen now whether the bidding process, slated for Thursday, will go ahead with just one interested party or will it be delayed again.