Karachi: Pakistan's main bourse is to sell a 40 percent stake next week, a company official said yesterday, citing Chinese and British consortia as among the prospective buyers.
At least 17 entities have expressed an interest in the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), whose benchmark stock index was one of the best performing indices worldwide in 2016, gaining 38 percent so far. The PSX is currently owned by more than 300 Pakistani brokers. "We are opening bidding for the 40 percent share of the PSX on December 15," Shahzad Chamdia, chief of a PSX divestment committee, told AFP. Analysts estimate the deal will be worth around $225m, but the committee declined to comment.
"We have the reference share price being evaluated by a third party and will reveal it only on the bidding day," Chamdia said. Sources at the PSX said a consortium consisting of the Shanghai Stock Exchange, the Shenzen Stock Exchange and a Chinese fund is bidding.
