Nishat Mills offers 18% stake to Millat Tractors in its car venture

Letter of intent signed by the two companies


Our Correspondent December 20, 2017
PHOTO: fb.com/Nishat-Mills-Ltd

KARACHI: Nishat Mills Limited (NML), one of the largest integrated textile mills in Pakistan, has offered Millat Tractors up to 18% stake in its subsidiary Hyundai Nishat Motor (Pvt) Limited (HNMPL).

This, however, will be subject to signing of definitive agreement between the parties. Moreover, the dilution of NML’s equity stake in HNMPL will be subject to requisite regulatory and other approvals, according to a company notice to the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Tuesday.

NML entered into an investment agreement with Hyundai Motor Company (HMC) earlier in February. It will have production facilities in M-3, Industrial City, Sahinwala, FIEDMC, Faisalabad.

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Just after NML’s announcement in February, Millat Tractors Limited announced that it had decided to explore the option of joining the upcoming joint venture between HMC and NML for the production of passenger cars and light trucks.

Last week, NML announced that it would hold the ground breaking ceremony of its automobile plant - a joint venture with HMC - on December 20, 2017.

The news is important for the industry because Lucky Cement, one of the largest cement makers in Pakistan that had announced its partnership with Kia Motor Co just two months before NML’s joint venture with HMC, is fast executing its plans at its Karachi plant. The NML’s joint venture will produce HMC passenger cars and 1-ton range commercial vehicles in Pakistan.

After the announcement of the new auto policy in March 2016, a number of foreign automobile companies have announced to set up their plants in Pakistan. Both leading Korean automobile companies, Hyundai and Kia, used to assemble cars in Pakistan but left the market mainly due to the liberal used car import policy in the Musharraf regime.

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The sharp increase in the import of used cars massively hit the Korean brands that were still trying to consolidate their footprint against the well-entrenched Japanese car makers.

The re-entry of Korean brands has been considered a big success of the PML-N government, which took over two years in announcing the new auto policy to give attractive incentives to new entrants and those who left Pakistan earlier.

The government wanted to encourage new players to invest in the local market, which is currently dominated by only three Japanese players.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 20th, 2017.

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