KARACHI-Pakistan has appointed US investment bank Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc. as financial advisor for the planned partial privatization of Oil & Gas Development Corp. (ODGC).
"Merrill Lynch has been nominated as financial advisor, which will help to attract foreign investment," said Privatization Commission spokesman Tahir Parvaiz.
OGDC, with total assets of $320 million and annual gas sales worth $91 million, will be sold off in slices as part of the government's $4 billion privatization drive.
The government has said that 90% of the funds raised through privatization of some 49 units would be used to retire the country's foreign debts. The Privatization Commission has also identified nine oil and gas fields for privatization.