Pak takes Etisalat’s $2.59 bn PTCL bid

The country’s biggest privatisation had been expected to raise $2 billion at best, but Etisalat far outbid China Mobile (Hong Kong) Ltd’s $1.409 billion offer and Singapore Telecommunications Ltd’s bid of $1.166 billion.

‘‘We think the price received by the government reflects the true value of the company,’’ Aziz said after chairing a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Privatisation, which approved the offer from the Middle Eastern company.

The government, which holds 88 per cent of PTCL, offered 1.33 billion shares, or 26 per cent of the total 5.1 billion shares.

Obaid Saeed Bin Mes’har, Chief executive of Etisalat, said in Dubai the investment would pay off within five years, hopefully sooner. His bid was about 40 per cent above the average PTCL share price for the past six months.

‘‘We feel this is the right value,’’ he said, adding that the premium was fairly standard given that Etisalat was guaranteed management control.