The Board of Directors (BoD) of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has approved the company’s restructuring and privatization plan, reported 24NewsHD TV channel on Tuesday.
The company shared the development in its notice to the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Tuesday.
“The Board of Directors of the company in its 83rd meeting held on March 25, 2024 has approved the Scheme of Arrangement (SOA) for restructuring and privatisation of Pakistan International Airlines Corporation Limited along with its ancillary modalities, to be filed with Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP),” read the notice to the bourse.
To note, PIA has witnessed a relentless rally past its record highs amid the government's efforts to restructure and privatize the loss-making airline.
PIA has seen a bout of volatility in recent sessions. The stock price is up 2.35x this month, and a staggering 7.56x in the current fiscal year.
Its share price hit the upper lock and settled at Rs25.39 on Tuesday. However, it was already on its way to the price-cap much before the notice was made public at around 11am.
Last month, the then-cabinet approved PIA privatisation plan.
The restructuring plan completed by transaction adviser Ernst & Young divested the PIA into two entities; one ‘clean’ one and the other to be parked in a holding company with legacy debt, which includes negative equity of Rs825 billion ($2.95 billion) in loans, creditors’ money and losses.
“These steps will help attract the investors toward PIA,” the statement from the Prime Minister’s Office said back then.
In deep economic crisis, Pakistan agreed last June to overhaul the SOEs under a deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a $3 billion bailout.
The outgoing government decided to privatise PIA just weeks after signing the IMF agreement.
Earlier this month, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, while presiding over a high-level meeting on privatisation of the PIA and restructuring of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), sought a final schedule for the implementation of the privatisation of the PIA.