UK merchant bank Morgan Grenfell & Company was appointed financial adviser on 1 May for the second phase privatisation of Pakistan Telecommunications Corporation (PTC), the privatisation commission has confirmed.

Three were short-listed for the job in April out of a total 25 bidders. The others were Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs. Grenfell's brief is to help structure the second phase of PTC's privatisation, which entails the sale of a strategic 26 per cent of the government's shares to an investor who will assume management control.

The government wants the transfer to take place by the end of 1995, the privatisation commission says. PTC is due to become an incorporated company by mid-year. Profits rose by 13 per cent in 1994 to Rs 16,024 million ($519.4 million - MEED 14:3:95).