KARACHI: A group of companies led by Lucky Cement has told the government it wants to buy GEPCO, a state-owned electricity distribution company in Pakistan.
The group includes Lucky Cement, Hub Power Holding, Kohat Cement, and Metro Ventures. They have already passed the first stage and can now look at GEPCO’s finances, operations, and legal matters. They want to buy between 51% and 100% of the company.
The government plans to sell GEPCO by February 2027. Two other power companies, FESCO and IESCO, will be sold in January and March 2027.
GEPCO supplies electricity to Gujranwala, Sialkot, Narowal, Gujrat, Mandi Bahauddin, and Hafizabad.
GEPCO is one of the better-run government power companies in Pakistan. It loses less electricity during transmission and distribution than most others — 10.6% in fiscal 2025. It also collects bills well, with a recovery rate of 101.5%, above the required 100%.
In fiscal 2025, GEPCO’s sales rose 8% to 362.7 billion rupees. It sold 4.6% more electricity and received 44% more government subsidies. Because its power costs were lower, its profit margins improved. GEPCO made a profit of 13.7 billion rupees, compared with a loss of 13.1 billion rupees the year before.
Lucky Cement had 182 billion rupees in cash as of June 2026. Kohat Cement had 37.2 billion rupees, and Hub Power Holding had 29.8 billion rupees.
The same group also tried to buy Pakistan International Airlines in the past.
Analysts say they will watch the GEPCO sale closely because it could affect all three companies.
