HUBCO takes control of power station’s management from foreign company

KARACHI: Hub Power Company, one of the country’s largest independent power producers, has taken control of the operation and management of its 1,292-megawatt plant from the UK-based energy company, its official said on Tuesday.
“Hubco has established a wholly-owned subsidiary, Hub Power Services Limited, to manage the O&M (operation and management) of its existing power assets, its upcoming coal power plants and explore onshore and offshore O&M business in the future,” the official said.
The International Power Global Developments Limited (IPGDL) – a subsidiary of London-headquartered multinational electricity generation company of the International Power – had been running the Hub power station, located 60-kilometre from Karachi in Hub, Balochistan, since the commissioning of the plant in 1997.
The International Power had offloaded its 17.4 percent shareholding in Hubco back in March 2012. Dawood Group was the major buyer of the divested shares.
Earlier, in October 2011, Jeddah-based Xenel International sold its entire $60 million worth of shareholding (12.1 percent or 140.3 million shares) in Hubco to the selected investors.
Several governments, the World Bank and international private sector lenders and investors co-financed the Hub power station.
Presently, Dawood Group, Allied Bank and Fauji Foundation are the major shareholders in Hubco.
“The Hubco management has taken over the O&M of the power station following termination of the agreement with IPGDL to gain the expertise in self-operating of a large scale power project,” the official said.
The Hub Power Company, listed on the Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad stock exchanges and its global depository receipts listed on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange, has the production capacity of more than 1,600MW. The company has over 13,000 local and international shareholders.
According to the official, the company is working on an aggressive growth plan and at an advanced stage of setting up two 660MW coal-run power plants and coal jetty at its existing site.
Hubco is also working on the Thar coal mining project in collaboration with the Sindh Engro Coal Mining Company. It has an option to develop mine-mouth power plants as the mine will scale up.
The Hub power station set the standard for the formulation of a private power framework in the country, which has elicited numerous responses from international investors. Several medium-sized projects have since completed their financing and construction.