Mohammad Zubair, Pakistan's minister of state for privatisation and chairman of the country's privatisation commission, has one of the more unenviable jobs in global politics. The route to his office on Islamabad's Constitution Avenue – where parliament, the prime minister's secretariat, the Supreme Court and most of the federal government machinery are located – is blocked by protestors who have been camped there since mid-August, enough time to form a makeshift guard post to search visitor's cars, among other things. These are not ordinary times.

Mr Zubair, however, seems undeterred. “We don’t like what has happened, no government would,” he says, referring to the protests, which are being led by two political parties, Pakistan Awami Tehreek and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf.

Pakistan's progress

The demonstrators are demanding social reforms and the resignation of the prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, over alleged rigging in the 2013 general elections. “But Pakistan has shown that its democratic credentials are firmly established," says Mr Zubair. "Had it been the 1960s, 1980s or 1990s, there would have been [military] intervention already. The remarkable fact that the entire parliament, including the opposition, supported the government, sends a strong message inside and outside Pakistan that you have to go through the ballot to change the government or its policies. From that standpoint, Pakistan has truly made progress."

This will be the message that Mr Zubair will be delivering to international investors when, along with other government officials, he embarks on a roadshow in October for global depositor receipts (GDR) of the Oil and Gas Development Company (OGDC), Pakistan’s biggest energy production firm.

The 21-day roadshow will take place in Hong Kong, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates, Frankfurt, Stockholm, London, New York, Boston and Chicago, in a bid to sell a 10% government holding through a London-listed GDR for a total price of between $800m and $850m. 

For sale signs

Following the OGDC deal, Mr Zubair is planning to sell up to 10% of the government's shares in Allied Bank Limited, Pakistan’s fifth largest bank, for about $150m. The transaction is due to be finalised in November. This will be followed by a two-part sale of Pakistan’s biggest lender, Habib Bank Limited (HBL), which is expected to raise about $1.2bn.

“In December 2014, we aim to sell up to $400m- to 500m-worth of [our] stake in HBL to institutional investors. If the International Finance Corporation picks up $200m-worth of the stake and another two institutions pick up $100m and $150m, respectively, then it will have a good effect on pricing for the remaining stake, which we plan to sell through a London-listed GDR in March 2015,” says Mr Zubair. 

Also in the pipeline are asset sales of state-owned Pakistan International Airlines and Pakistan Steel Mills, as well as nine power distribution firms. Mr Zubair says that he plans to complete these transactions by December 2015. The government will be targeting both local and international investors, to the chagrin of some opinion-makers in the country, who are divided over whether stakes should be sold to domestic or foreign investors. Mr Zubair’s position, however, is clear: “Pakistan’s investment policy doesn’t differentiate between domestic and foreign investors.”

On the subject of who these investors might be, Mr Zubair says: “My initial assessment is that there are several companies in China that are interested. Some from the Arab countries have also expressed interest."