Govt. held shares in resort JVs can be sold under advice of President

Government-held shares in Joint-Venture companies to private shareholders can be sold by the Finance Minister upon the advice of the President, according to new regulations.  

The regulation related to the sale of shares owned by the government in JVs was published today. The regulation comes under the Tourism Act’s article 5 (G). 

A government-owned JV company is only regarded as those companies which came into existence before the 10th amendment to the tourism regulation. The company must also be formed for resort development and is required to have a third-party shareholder apart from the government. 

The regulation published today reads that the Privatization and Corporatization Board is to oversee the evaluation of the procedure of the sale of shares and the PCB is also to be informed of any prospective sale of shares. 

The price of the shares being sold is to be determined based on the size of the land (resort) and USD 5 for every percentage of the shares held by the government. The procedure is to be carried out under an agreement between the parties and the Finance Minister is to sign the documents on behalf of the government.

The payment for the sale of shares can be made as a single payment or in installments with the maximum period for payments being 18 months. The procedure for the transfer of shares is to finalized by the company within 15 days of the payment being finalized.