ISLAMABAD- The Pakistani government and the K-Electric (KE) have finallyagreed to sell off the KE to Shanghai Electric Power (SEP) after years of astandstill over the issue.

In 2005, Dubai-based private equity firm Abraaj Group, Saudi business groupAljomaih Holdings, and National Industries Group (NIG) of Kuwait had boughta 66.4 percent stake in KE. The government holds 24.36 percent shares in KE.

In 2016, the UAE consortium that holds the majority stake of the shares,decided to sell its stake to SEP. However, the transaction could not gothrough due to outstanding payment issues with the government.

The long-standing payment dispute finally saw a breakthrough, Arab Newsreported saying that the company officials confirmed the news on Sunday.

In March this year, Abdulaziz Hamad Al-Jomaih, Managing DirectorInvestments at Aljomaih Holdings, visited Pakistan to resolve the issuesimpeding the SEP deal.

He met with Prime Minister Imran Khan, President Arif Alvi, and other keyofficials. In a statement after his visit, he said that the government ofPakistan had assured him of its support in expediting the approval processfor the held-up tariff differentials of around Rs. 275 billion.