Dawood Hercules accepts offer for HUBCO stake sale

KARACHI: Dawood Hercules Corporation Limited on Thursday announced it has accepted Mega Conglomerate Private Limited’s (MCPL) offer for the acquisition of its entire shareholding in Hub Power Company (HUBCO) at a purchase price of Rs106.5/share, which brings the total transaction outlay to Rs18.38 billion.

“The consummation of the transaction is subject to the procurement of all the applicable regulatory and corporate approvals as may be required,” a bourse filing said.

Dawood Hercules holds 172.58 million shares constituting 14.91 percent stake in HUBCO along with Allied Bank Limited with 9.68 percent, Fauji Foundation 8.5 percent and National Bank Limited holding 4.99 percent as of June 30, 2016.

In July 2017, Dawood Hercules had announced to offload its entire holding in HUBCO. Subsequently, in October 2017, Kot Addu Power Company had also expressed intention to acquire Dawood’s stake in HUBCO and the purchase price was agreed at Rs109.86/share. However, Kot Addu Power Company's majority shareholders stayed the transaction.

It may be mentioned here that a day earlier, the MCPL had expressed its intention to acquire 87.5 percent stake along with the management control of Dewan Cement Limited. Dewan Cement Limited has granted permission to MCPL for initiating the due diligence of the cement company. The MCPL is a holding company with investments focused in the dairy and real estate sectors of Pakistan. “Financially strong with deep reserves, we are able to leverage our balance sheet effectively to allocate adequate financial resources towards any new strategic business venture we aspire to invest in,” says its website.