ISLAMABAD: Three bids have been received for the privatisation of loss-making national airline Pakistan International Airlines.

The sealed bids , submitted on Tuesday morning, came from conglomerate Lucky Cement, private airline Airblue and investment firm Arif Habib.

The reference price for PIACL’s bidding will only be approved by the Privatisation Commission Board and the Cabinet Committee on Privatisation after bids have been received.

The bids will be opened in a ceremony starting at 3:30 pm in the presence of the bidders. The bids and the reference prices will be announced and the bidding will be concluded as per agreed terms.

Adviser to the prime minister on privatisation, Muhammad Ali will also hold a press conference after the conclusion of the bidding process. The whole process would be telecast live and streamed across all TV channels as well as respective social media handles of the government, which will be hoping to avoid a repeat of the last time the airline went under the hammer.

According to Privatisation Minister Muhammad Ali, two unsuccessful bidders will be excluded from any future role in the airline’s management thanks to a unique stipulation.

In recent remarks, the minister explained that losing bidders will have no right to join the winning bidder, and only those groups who were not party to the auction would be able to join the new management.

This means that while only one of the three consortiums currently in the running for the flag carrier will become part of its administration upon acquisition of a majority stake, FFC retains the option to join with them subsequently, if it wishes to.

Ahead of Tuesday’s bidding, reports surfaced of a behind-the-scenes deal involving at least two of the parties involved — the Arif Habib and Lucky Cement groups — that reportedly fell through.

In a tweet, journalist Kamran Khan alluded to a meeting where it was proposed to split the controlling stake among three of the four interested parties. However, Khan claimed, this arrangement fell through as one of the parties — i.e. the Muhammad Ali Tabba-led Lucky Cement group — did not agree to it.

Both Tabba and a high-ranking government official privy to developments confirmed this, but clarified that this was not a government-brokered mee­ting, but rather an informal interaction.

Talking to Dawn, Tabba expressed unwavering confidence in the privatisation process, and clarified that the proposal was floated to him after a meeting in Islamabad, which he did not pursue.