Chicago‑based Ingredion Inc. has begun entertaining non‑binding offers for the 71% shareholding it holds in Rafhan Maize Products Company Ltd. (RMPL), its long‑standing Pakistani subsidiary listed on the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), in a notice sent to shareholders this past week. Management is now weighing whether to open a formal auction or negotiate privately. Ingredion and Rafhan Maize have made no public filings so far, but the company’s 71% ownership is disclosed in its own investor material.
Rafhan Maize grinds more than 400,000 tons of corn a year to produce industrial starches, liquid glucose, dextrose, dextrins and gluten meals that feed Pakistan’s food, textile, paper and pharmaceutical sectors. Although RMPL itself is an industrial ingredients business, the Rafhan name evokes warm, very consumer‑facing memories: Rafhan Custard, cornflour, jelly and pudding powders—household staples that generations of Pakistanis grew up on. Those packaged dessert lines were created by CPC/Ingredion decades ago but were sold to Unilever in 1998; the licensing link means the custard tins found in every pantry still carry the Rafhan name and sustain enormous brand equity for the industrial company that shares it. The content in this publication is expensive to produce. But unlike other journalistic outfits, business publications have to cover the very organizations that directly give them advertisements. Hence, this large source of revenue, which is the lifeblood of other media houses, is severely compromised on account of Profit’s no-compromise policy when it comes to our reporting. No wonder, Profit has lost multiple ad deals, worth tens of millions of rupees, due to stories that held big businesses to account. Hence, for our work to continue unfettered, it must be supported by discerning readers who know the value of quality business journalism, not just for the economy but for the society as a whole.To read the full article, subscribe and support independent business journalism in Pakistan
