The privatisation of Heavy Electrical Complex (HEC) has entered into its final stages. HEC is a Government owned entity under the administrative control of State Engineering Corporation the share of which are fully owned by Ministry of Industries & Production/ Federal Government. Located in Taxila, Heavy Electrical Complex (HEC) started its commercial operations in 1998. The prime business of the HEC is to prepare high voltage electric transformers used by the power distribution entities along with services for testing, repairs and onsite commissioning of transformers.
Currently, different options for determination of Reserve Price for the bidding of HEC shares are being considered by the Privatisation Commission (PC), before the bidding process is initiated with the approval of the Federal Cabinet.
Importantly, breakthrough has been achieved in several of the pending matters related to Employees and settlement of liabilities due towards the financial institutions. PC is ensuring that no further liabilities are added on the balance sheet of HEC while Ministry of Industries & Production is also playing its positive role to retain credit rating of the entity. Also, Power Division is in agreement that no adverse action is taken against HEC by any DISCO. Settlement of long-standing dues of KPEZDMC is another milestone which has been successfully achieved with the cooperation of the concerned stakeholders.
The privatization of HEC has generated interest from a number of Investors. The bidders have been prequalified by PC and the pre-bid meeting was also held in August 2021. Most of the issue raised by the pre-qualified bidders in the meeting were satisfactorily addressed. It is expected that privatisation of HEC will lead to creation of positive sentiment for the overall privatization program presently underway. Many other privatization transaction of larger ticket size and quantum are also queued up which include the two RLNG based Power Plants, Pakistan Steel Mills, Guddu Power Plant, and Nandipur Power Plant. The bidding of HEC is likely to be held within this quarter after the approval of Reserve Price of bidding by CCOP and Cabinet.
Privatisation is a very thorough process wherein extensive due diligence and due care is involved in each phase. Starting from the financial, legal, and technical analysis of the entity being privatised to its marketing, inviting interests of potential bidders, outreaching to potential investors and most importantly clearing the encumbrances which could adversely impact the transaction. Most of the entities offered for Privatisation by the Ministries are loss making and have complex financial and legal issues which take extensive efforts by Privatization Commission to bring to this level where the HEC transaction has eventually reached.
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