Pakistan Starts Auction for Beleaguered National Airline

Pakistan successfully started the process to sell its national flag carrier Pakistan International Airlines Corp. after it got three bids for its sale, marking a watershed moment in the country’s broader push to sell loss-making state-owned enterprises.

The sale has entered open bidding starting at 115 billion rupees ($410 million) for 75% after two bids were higher than the minimum expected price, according to a televised briefing of the sale auction in Islamabad. Tycoon Arif Habib’s consortium gave the highest bid at 115 billion rupees followed by Muhammad Ali Tabba’s group at 101.5 billion rupees and Airblue with a bid of 26.5 billion rupees.