Islamabad: The federal government has asked the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) to divest all of its shares in the House Building Finance Company (HBFC) in an effort to facilitate the proposed privatisation of the housing finance firm, a news source reported.
Last week, the Privatisation Commission Board had approved the hiring of MCB Bank, Elixir Securities Pakistan (Pvt) Limited, EY Ford Rhodes, and Haidermota & Co (sub-contractor) as the financial advisors for HBFC’s privatisation.
In August 2019, the Cabinet Committee on Privatisation had directed the Privatisation Commission to add HBFC in its active list of the privatisation programme. The Finance Division also gave its approval for this measure.
In response, the Privatisation Commission designed a plan to sell 100% shares in HBFC, along with its management control, to a strategic investor. This required SBP to divest its shares in HBFC worth 90.31% of the total shareholding. Therefore, the government has issued the said directives to the central bank.
As per sources, the government’s decision for directing SBP to divest its HBFC shares was subject to clearance from the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC).
