SHC Extends Restraining Order Against K-Electric BoD Reshuffle

The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Tuesday lengthened its previous order prohibiting K-Electric (KE) from changing its board of directors until the next hearing. The bench deferred the hearing for a date to be decided in two weeks and stated that the earlier restraining order would remain in effect until the next hearing. Last month, Saudi Arabia-based Aljomaih Power Limited and Kuwait-based Denham Investment filed a lawsuit in the SHC claiming ownership of 46.2 percent of KES Power, which owns 66.4 percent of the KE. The plaintiffs opined that any change in KE’s board or management required the approval of 75 percent of the company’s stakeholders. On October 21, the SHC barred KE from making any changes to its board of directors until November 8. The complainants said the Infrastructure and Growth Capital Fund (IGCF) was in violation of the shareholders’ agreement of 2008 and was attempting to transfer the beneficial ownership effect or management control of the KE. The petitioners mentioned a section of the media that revealed the transfer of management control of a large portion of KES Power and KE with a proposal filed with a court in the Cayman Islands, under which Alvarez was designated to take over the IGCF. According to the counsel, neither the plaintiffs nor the government was aware of any such change in the board or management control of the power utility. They contended that the plaintiffs were not a part of any plan by the IGCF and Alvarez to change the KE’s board of directors, but that the same was being discussed by both defendants through proposals filed in the Cayman Islands. The lawyers postulated that IGCF and Alvarez had sent board nominations to the KE as part of a transaction in order to hijack the power company and circumvent Pakistan’s regulatory framework. The Shanghai Electric Corporation (SEC) continued to renew its mandatory tender offer every six months on the PSX portal, which meant that the previous transaction of the KE contracted in 2016 with SEC was still not withdrawn, raising further concerns about IGCF and Alvarez’s attempts to change the board of directors of KES and thus the KE. The appellants asked the court to declare IGCF and Alvarez’s actions null and void. Via Dawn