Fauji Foundation buys 19.7% of Pearl Continental owner for Rs6.55 billion

Fauji Foundation has bought 19.70% of Pakistan Services Limited, the company that owns the Pearl Continental hotel chain, for about Rs6.55 billion — paying Rs1,022.42 a share for 6,406,797 voting shares on 2 November.

Pakistan Services disclosed the purchase to the Pakistan Stock Exchange, saying it had received a letter from Fauji Foundation making the disclosure under Section 110 of the Securities Act, 2015, read with Regulation 4(2) of the Listed Companies (Substantial Acquisition of Voting Shares and Takeovers) Regulations, 2017.

The price is well above the levels at which earlier buyers took their positions. In July last year, AKD Group Holdings acquired 27.95% of Pakistan Services for more than Rs6.36 billion, Dawood Jan Mohammad bought 28% of the voting shares at Rs700 each the same day, and Thatta Cement Company announced a 28% stake for Rs6.45 billion at Rs710 a share.

Pakistan Services was incorporated in 1958 and runs the Pearl Continental hotels, franchises its trademark and name, and operates a smaller budget property in Lahore. In September 2026, Thatta Cement said it had reached an in-principle understanding on a proposed restructuring of Pakistan Services to settle a matter pending before the Islamabad High Court.

Fauji Foundation's entry adds one of Pakistan's largest conglomerates to a shareholder register that has changed sharply in little more than a year, and gives it a stake in the country's best-known hotel brand at a premium to the prices paid by the buyers who preceded it.