KARACHI: A gong ceremony was held at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Thursday to mark the listing of preference shares of Engro Polymer & Chemicals Limited (EPCL).
The said listing, which brings forth a new investment opportunity from EPCL, took place on 31st December 2020. To open the trading day, EPCL CEO Jahangir Piracha performed the gong ceremony. He was accompanied by PSX Chief Operating Officer Nadir Rahman, board members of the exchange, and senior management of the Consultant to the Issue – Arif Habib Limited.
EPCL planned to raise Rs3 billion by offering 300 million preference shares at face value of Rs10 per share. Of the 300 million preference shares, 262.5 million (87.5pc) were offered to and subscribed by the pre-IPO investors, whereas 37.5 million (12.5pc) were offered to the general public.
The IPO of EPCL preference shares was extremely successful with subscription applications of more than 202.047 million shares being received against an allocated target of 37.5 million shares in the general public portion of the said IPO. The general public portion of the IPO was thus oversubscribed by 5.39 times or by more than 164.547 million shares per Rs1.645 billion.
Speaking on the occasion, PSX COO Nadir Rahman said, “This was an excellent opportunity to invest in the preference shares of a stable, solid, and growing company. EPCL has raised equity capital for further expansion and debottlenecking. The oversubscription level indicates investor confidence in the company. On behalf of Pakistan Stock Exchange, we wish EPCL success.”
Meanwhile, EPCL CEO Jahangir Piracha said, “Engro Polymer’s preference shares issue was a landmark transaction, having raised preference equity on non-rights basis in a very tumultuous year. The success of this issue shows the investors’ confidence in EPCL business and its strategic direction. On this momentous occasion, EPCL wants to thank all participating retail investors and our partners who made this issue a resounding success by subscribing to this instrument. EPCL looks forward to continue to contribute towards the economic growth of the country, creating value for all our stakeholders and playing our part in deepening of Pakistan’s capital markets.”
In his address, Arif Habib Limited CEO Shahid Ali Habib said, “I am very pleased with the success of IPO of EPCL’s preference shares. Despite the challenges posed by the pandemic, we were able to generate an excellent response for the preference shares as the IPO was oversubscribed by 5.4x with broad based participation from institutional, corporate and retail investors. It is a proud moment for us at Arif Habib Limited to have facilitated this journey of the company that has now listed its third instrument on the PSX.”
