Pakistan's $333 mln fertiliser plant sale in trouble

KARACHI, Mar 24 (Reuters) Pakistan polyester staple fibre maker Ibrahim Fibres Ltd. has pulled out of a 20-billion rupee (3 million) deal to buy urea processing firm Pak-American Fertilisers Ltd from the government, officials said on Friday.

Ibrahim Fibres last month offered the highest bid of 667 Pakistani rupees (.10) per share for 30 million shares of Pak-American, which runs a 1,050 tonnes-a-day urea processing plant in Mianwali, Punjab province.

''We have been informed by Ibrahim Fibres that they would not be able to complete the deal,'' said Mansoor Zubair, Additional Secretary at the Privatisation Commission of Pakistan, the body overseeing the sale of government assets.

''We received this information on March 21,'' he told Reuters.

An official at Ibrahim Fibres said the company had forfeited 350 million rupees deposit.

''We realised that this deal did not suit us. That is why we decided to pull out,'' he said, without elaborating.

Analysts said they were not surprise the deal fell through.

''The transaction had seemed over-priced since the very beginning,'' said Mohammed Sohail, director of research at brokers Jahangir Siddiqui Capital Markets.

REUTERS SD PM1947