Another major financial investment by Malaysia if they win the bid.
MCB Bank, Petronas Seek Majority Stake in Pakistan State Oil
MCB Bank, the second-largest bank in Pakistan, and Petroliam Nasional Berhad (Petronas) have signed an agreement to participate in a joint bid to acquire a 51-percent stake in Pakistan State Oil (PSO), Pakistan’s largest oil marketing company. The Pakistani government hopes that top oil companies across the world participate because PSO has a monopoly in marketing both black and white oil in Pakistan. PSO, with a turnover of US$5.8 billion.
PSO is expected to be privatized by late-April 2007, and the process would be completed by June. Petronas is wholly owned by the Malaysian government and is vested with the entire ownership and control of that country’s petroleum resources. It has four subsidiaries listed on the Bursa Malaysia and has ventured globally into more than 30 countries worldwide–including Pakistan, where it used to produce an average 24 million cubic feet of gas per day and is involved in three upstream blocks in the country. MCB is one of the leading banks of Pakistan, with a deposit base of about Rs 230 billion and total assets of around Rs 300 billion. MCB Bank and Associates comprises Nishat Mills Limited, Nishat Chunian Limited DG Khan Cement and Adamjee Insurance–among the groups that submitted their statement of qualification in the privatization process for PSO in January 2007. For the year ending June 2006, PSO’s sales revenue was in excess of Rs 352 billion ($123 million). It is a Triple-A (AAA) rated company by Pakistan Credit Rating Agency (Pacra). PSO has a net worth of US$0.34 billion, or Rs 20.8 billion, and a market capitalization of around $0.9 billion, or Rs 59 billion.
