Fauji Foundation buys 19.7% of Pearl Continental owner Pakistan Services for Rs 6.55 billion

Fauji Foundation has bought 19.70% of Pakistan Services Limited (PSL), the listed company that owns and runs the Pearl Continental hotel chain, for about Rs 6.55 billion. PSL told the Pakistan Stock Exchange on Tuesday, 3 November 2026, that it had received a letter from Fauji Foundation dated 2 November, Business Recorder reported.

The deal in numbers

• Shares bought: 6,406,797 voting shares
• Price: Rs 1,022.42 a share
• Total: about Rs 6.55 billion (roughly $23.7 million at the dollar rate of about Rs 277)
• Stake: 19.70% of PSL's voting shares, which is now Fauji Foundation's entire holding
• Date of acquisition: 2 November 2026

The disclosure was made under Section 110 of the Securities Act, 2015, and the takeover regulations of 2017, which require anyone crossing set shareholding levels in a listed company to tell the market.

What Pakistan Services owns

PSL was set up in 1958. It owns and manages the Pearl Continental hotels, licenses the PC name and trademark to franchised hotels, and runs a smaller budget hotel in Lahore. The PC brand covers some of the best known hotels in Karachi, Lahore, Rawalpindi, Peshawar, Bhurban and Muzaffarabad.

A company changing hands in pieces

The stake is the latest in a series of large purchases in PSL, according to Business Recorder:

• In July last year, AKD Group Holdings bought 27.95% for more than Rs 6.36 billion, and on the same day Dawood Jan Mohammad bought 28% at Rs 700 a share.
• Thatta Cement later announced a 28% stake for Rs 6.45 billion, at Rs 710 a share.
• In September 2026, Thatta Cement reached an in-principle understanding on a restructuring of PSL meant to settle a matter pending before the Islamabad High Court.

Fauji Foundation paid about 44% more per share than the Rs 710 Thatta Cement paid, a sign of how much the hotel group's value has been re-rated as buyers compete for it.

What it means for investors

Fauji Foundation, one of Pakistan's largest conglomerates, already controls fertiliser, cement, power, food and banking businesses. A near-20% block makes it one of PSL's biggest shareholders, though not a controller. Neither side has said whether more buying is planned; a holding above 30% would trigger a mandatory public offer to other shareholders under the takeover rules.

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