Three parties now bidding for Rafhan Maize

The fight for Ingredion’s 71% holding in Rafhan Maize Products Company Ltd. (RMPL) has turned into a full-blown bidding war. In the space of eight days three very different suitors have filed “public announcements of intention” with the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX):

• Nishat Hotels & Properties Ltd. (NHPL), part of billionaire Mian Muhammad Mansha’s Nishat Group, acting through Next Capital as manager to the offer
• The previously disclosed Cherat Cement–Shirazi Investments consortium that pairs the Ghulam Faruque and Atlas groups;
• Sapphire Fibres Ltd. (SFL), the flagship textile company of Lahore’s Sapphire Group.

Each notice seeks regulatory leave to acquire up to 6.99 million shares, or 75.69 percent of Rafhan’s paid-up capital, meaning any two could, in theory, buy out Ingredion and the public float in one swoop. A formal share-purchase agreement (SPA) and a mandatory tender offer will follow once due diligence wraps up and the Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) issues clearances.

Rafhan’s thinly traded stock closed at Rs8,911 on 13 May 2025 after drifting between Rs8,500 and Rs9,700 over the past month. Using the 28-day volume-weighted average price of Rs8,962 quoted in the Cherat-Atlas filing, a full 75.69 percent block is worth Rs62.7 billion ($223 million). Ingredion’s core holding of 71 percent—essentially the shares it wants to exit—would fetch just over Rs58 billion before negotiations on a control premium.