Pearl Continental Owner Faces Major Shake-Up as Thatta Cement, Fauji Foundation Sign Deal

Thatta Cement and Fauji Foundation move closer to restructuring Pakistan Services Limited following a multibillion-rupee shift in the hotel operator’s shareholding.

KARACHI, Nov. 11 (Focus Pakistan) — The Pearl Continental restructuring moved from a handshake to a signature on Wednesday, after Thatta Cement Company Limited signed a definitive agreement with Fauji Foundation over the future of Pakistan Services Limited, the company that owns the country’s best-known hotel chain.

It does confirm one thing. Two months ago the cement maker spoke only of an “in-principle understanding.” Now it has a signed contract. The restructuring still needs corporate, regulatory and other approvals before it can take effect.

The deal follows a 16-month fight for control of Pakistan Services, a company Pakistan International Airlines and Pan Am set up in 1958 to build InterContinental hotels in the country. Today it owns and runs the Pearl Continental chain, franchises the brand, and operates Hotel One and a budget property in Lahore.

The fight started in July 2025, when AKD Group Holdings bought a 27.95% stake for more than Rs6.36 billion. Thatta Cement followed in October 2025 with a 28% stake of its own, paying Rs710 a share, or Rs6.45 billion.

The contest then landed in court. In February 2026, the Islamabad High Court suspended the share acquisitions and director elections and ordered all sides to freeze shareholding, board composition and management control. Pakistan Services postponed its board vote.

The company said in September that the parties were negotiating a restructuring to help settle the case. Thatta Cement announced its in-principle understanding the same month.

Fauji Foundation then made its move.

On November 2, the Rawalpindi-based charitable trust bought 6,406,797 voting shares of Pakistan Services at Rs1,022.42 each. The purchase cost about Rs6.55 billion and gave the foundation a 19.70% stake. The foundation notified the exchange and the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan under the country’s takeover rules. Its disclosure did not identify the seller.

The price stands out. Fauji Foundation paid 44% more per share than Thatta Cement did a year earlier. The filing offered no reason for the gap. At the foundation’s price, Thatta Cement’s own stake would carry a paper value of about Rs9.3 billion, against the Rs6.45 billion it paid.

Nine days later, Thatta Cement put its name on the definitive agreement.

On disclosed figures, Thatta Cement and Fauji Foundation together hold nearly 48% of the hotel company’s voting shares. Neither side has said how the restructuring will divide control, assets or management between them, and Fauji Foundation holds no nominee seat on the Pakistan Services board.

Earlier talk of carving up individual hotel properties remains unconfirmed. Pakistan Services has said it had no formal knowledge of any such plan, and the November 11 filing does not mention one.

For Thatta Cement, a Sindh-based cement producer that also owns Thatta Power, the hotel stake marks a sharp turn away from its core business. For Fauji Foundation, already one of the country’s largest conglomerates with interests in fertiliser, cement, power and food, the deal opens a door into hospitality.

The stakes reach well beyond two balance sheets. Pearl Continental ranks among Pakistan’s most recognised hotel brands, so any change at the top will reach far beyond the books of the two companies.

Investors now face three open questions. Who will run the company once the restructuring closes? What happens to the court-ordered freeze? And will minority shareholders get a say?

The next filing will have to answer them.

Approvals come first. Until they arrive, nothing changes at the top of Pakistan Services.