Expressions of interest have been submitted by 10 international firms for a 51 per cent stake and management control of the Karachi Electricity Supply Corporation (KESC). They include the US' CMS Energy, Union Sinoza of Spain, a South Korean partnership of Korea Electric and Daewoo Corporation, a consortium led by Japan's Marubeni Corporation, a consortium led by Deutsche Bank, Belgium's Tractebel, the UK's National Grid and a consortium led by the UAE's Offset Group (MEED 15:5:98).

The Privatisation Commission (PC) will now shortlist up to three parties and hold detailed discussions with them over the next two weeks. Sources say that the PC plans to finalise a deal within three months.

KESC has installed generating capacity of 1,735 MW and available capacity of 1,474 MW at its four plants, two of which use both oil and gas as feedstock with the remaining two using gas. The corporation's transmission system spans over 993 kilometres and mainly consists of overhead lines of which 20 per cent are 220 kV. The distribution network, stretching 14,568 kilometres, comprises 5,651 substations of 11-kV and pole-mounted transformers with a total capacity of 2,745 MVA. The financial adviser on the KESC privatisation is UBS.