Latest news with #FatimaFertilizer
Business Recorder
02-07-2025
- Health
- Business Recorder
Fatima Fertilizer's Sarsabz Tabeer launches healthcare initiative
LAHORE: As part of its ongoing commitment to empower rural women and female farmers, Fatima Fertilizer, under its flagship Sarsabz Tabeer initiative, has launched a new health-focused intervention in collaboration with Mukhtar A. Sheikh Memorial Welfare Hospital (MASH) and the Government of Punjab. The first Free Medical Camp under this new health initiative was successfully held on June 26th at THQ Hospital Kehrorpaka, Lodhran, targeting underserved communities where access to quality healthcare remains a challenge. The camp provided free medical consultations and medicines to a total of 400 participants including female farmers, children and their families, with a panel of specialists from various fields, including Gynecology, Pediatrics, Nephrology, Family Medicine, Neurology, and Ophthalmology. The event was attended by Multan Division Commissioner Amir Kareem Khan, Assistant Commissioner Ashraf Saleh Khan, and Babar Khan Marketing Head, who led the camp on behalf of MASH, along with Noor Malik, Brand Manager at Fatima Fertilizer. Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
Arab News
19-06-2025
- Business
- Arab News
Arif Habib Group submits bid as deadline nears for expressions of interest in PIA stake sale
ISLAMABAD: The chairman of the Arif Habib Group, a prominent Pakistani conglomerate with diversified interests across various sectors, said on Thursday the consortium had submitted its bid to acquire a stake in Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), the country's loss-making national flag carrier. Expressions of interest are due today, Thursday, for an up to 100 percent stake in PIA as the government moves forward with a long-delayed privatization plan aimed at easing pressure on its strained public finances. The sale of PIA will be the first major privatization for around two decades. Turning around loss-making state-owned enterprises is a condition of an ongoing $7 billion bailout by the International Monetary Fund. The government tried unsuccessfully to last year offload a stake in PIA, which is a major burden on its budget, but the sale was aborted because of the poor state of the airline and the conditions attached to any purchase. 'We have submitted our bid for acquiring the PIA stake,' Arib Habib, the chairman of Arif Habib Group, told Arab News. The group has a broad portfolio encompassing financial services, including brokerage and investment banking, fertilizers, cement, steel, real estate development, energy, and more. Some of its notable subsidiaries include Arif Habib Limited (AHL), Fatima Fertilizer Company Limited, Aisha Steel Mills Limited, Javedan Corporation Limited, and Sachal Wind Power. 'This time we are going into this process as a consortium that includes Arif Habib Corporation, Fatima Fertilizers Ltd., Lack City Holdings and City Schools Group.' In an advertisement issued by the government last month, it had said the deadline for the submission of expressions of interest and Statements of Qualification for the 'Divestment of Pakistan International Airlines Corporation Limited through privatization' had been extended to 4pm hours on Thursday, June 19, 2025. It did not provide a reason for the extension. No changes had been made to the remaining terms and conditions, the privatization commission had said. In April 2025, the commission invited expressions of interest from domestic and international investors to acquire a majority stake, ranging from 51 percent to 100 percent, in PIA, initially setting a submission deadline of Tuesday, June 3, 2025. According to the public notice, each EOI must be accompanied by a non-refundable processing fee of $5,000 or Rs1.4 million, with consortia required to pay the fee through any one member. Eligible bidders include legal entities such as companies, firms, and corporate bodies, either individually or as part of a consortium. Reuters reported on Wednesday that among those planning bids are Pakistani conglomerate the Yunus Brothers Group, owners of the Lucky Cement and energy companies, and a consortium led by Arif Habib Limited. Fauji Fertilizer Company, which is part-owned by the military, has also said it will be making an expression of interest. 'The board … has approved submission of an expression of interest and pre-qualification documents to the Privatization Commission … and undertaking a comprehensive due-diligence exercise,' FFC said in a notice to the Pakistan Stock Exchange this week. FFC is Pakistan's biggest fertilizer maker and has diversified interests in energy, food and finance. Any deal on PIA would expand the military group's footprint into aviation, though final terms will hinge on the government's privatization process and regulatory approvals. A group of PIA employees has also come forward to bid. 'The employees will use their provident fund and pension, in addition to finding an investor to place a bid. We're doing this to save jobs and turn around the company,' Hidayatullah Khan, president of the airline's Senior Staff Association, told Reuters this week. This is Pakistan's second attempt to sell PIA. A 2024 auction drew only one offer – Rs10 billion ($36 million) for 60 percent of the airline from real-estate developer Blue World City – far below the government's Rs85 billion ($305 million) floor price, and was rejected. Pakistan had offloaded nearly 80 percent of the airline's legacy debt and shifted it to government books ahead of the privatization attempt. The rest of the debt was also cleaned out of the airline's accounts after the failed sale attempt to make it more attractive to potential buyers, according to the country's privatization ministry. In April, PIA posted an operating profit of Rs9.3 billion ($33.1 million) for 2024, its first in 21 years. The airline has for years survived on government bailouts as its operational earnings were eaten up by debt servicing costs. Officials say offloading the debt burden and recent reforms like shedding staff, exiting unprofitable routes and other cost-cutting measures led to the profitable year. Ahead of the attempt to sell the airline last year, PIA had faced threats of being shut down, with planes impounded at international airports over its failure to pay bills and flights canceled due to a shortage of funds to pay for fuel or spare parts. With inputs from Reuters
Arab News
08-04-2025
- Business
- Arab News
Private sector firm says significant copper-gold mineralization discovered in Pakistan's southwest
KARACHI: The National Resources Limited (NRL), a private sector company involved in exploring and mining minerals in Pakistan, has discovered significant copper-gold mineralization in the southwestern Balochistan province, the firm said on Tuesday. NRL, a subsidiary of Fatima Fertilizer, Liberty Mills Limited and Lucky Cement, was awarded a lease in October 2023 for an area that contained two known porphyry prospects with strong exploration potential. Over 15 months, NRL had identified 18 new prospects, one of whom, 'Tang Kaur,' had rapidly progressed to an 'advanced drilling stage.' 'NRL has completed 13 diamond drill holes (3,517 meters), all of which intersected significant porphyry-style alteration, sheeted and stockwork quartz vein sets, and sulfide mineralization,' the statement said, quoting Muhammad Ali Tabba, Chairman NRL and CEO Lucky Cement Limited as he addressed the Pakistan Minerals Investment Forum 2025. 'Assay results from the first six drill holes (1,500 meters) confirm strongly mineralized, near-surface zones with downhole intervals ranging from 48 to 148 meters, using a 0.2 percent copper cut-off grade and up to 10 meters of internal dilution. The average grade of the intercepts ranges from 0.23 percent to 0.48 percent copper, 0.09 to 0.14 g/t gold, and 1.30 to 6.21 g/t silver, resulting in a copper equivalent of 0.28 percent to 0.56 percent. The mineralized system remains open to the north, east, and at depth.' Tabba said advanced drilling at Tang Kaur was scheduled for May 2025. Additionally, NRL has acquired a lead-zinc exploration license adjacent to a well-known deposit, where a Bankable Feasibility Study had already been conducted, he said. A comprehensive metal value chain was also being studied to assess the feasibility of downstream processing. 'NRL is actively working with the Government of Baluchistan and the Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC) to secure two additional Copper-Gold Exploration licenses in Chagai, Balochistan supported by a dedicated $100 million exploration fund,' the statement added. 'We have also signed MOU with Oil and Gas Development Company to work on newly acquired leases together. Looking ahead, NRL plans to bring additional national and international investors into the project as required.' Pakistan is hosting ministers and officials of private mining companies from Saudi Arabia, China, the United States and a host of other countries for a two-day minerals summit in the capital today, Tuesday, as it eyes international investment in its natural reserves estimated to be worth $6 trillion. Grappling with a prolonged macroeconomic crisis, Pakistan hopes to tap into its vast reserves of minerals and natural resources to turn its fortunes around. The country is home to one of the world's largest porphyry copper-gold mineral zones, while the Reko Diq mine in southwestern Balochistan has an estimated 5.9 billion tons of ore. Barrick Gold, which owns a 50 percent stake in the Reko Diq mines, considers them one of the world's largest underdeveloped copper-gold areas, and their development is expected to have a significant impact on Pakistan's struggling economy.
