With new IPO, Pakistani investors get access to the supplier of the eggs in McDonald’s Egg McMuffins

The next time a Qatari office worker unwraps an Egg McMuffin, there is a decent chance the egg inside began its journey not in some anonymous commodity shed, but in a tightly controlled, automated layer house in Sargodha. Wahdat Poultry Farm Ltd, a prominent supplier to McDonald’s Pakistan, is now attempting something almost as unusual as selling branded eggs in a country long accustomed to buying them loose: it wants to sell itself, or at least a slice of itself, to the public markets. McDonald’s Pakistan’s current breakfast menu still includes the Egg McMuffin, while Wahdat’s draft prospectus says the company is a prominent supplier to McDonald’s Pakistan and the Middle East and is on the McDonald’s Global Vendor List.

The draft prospectus placed on the Pakistan Stock Exchange website on March 13 lays out a modestly sized but symbolically important flotation. Wahdat plans to offer 53.1 million shares at a floor price of Rs12 each, implying an issue size of Rs637.2 million at the floor. Of that, 50 million shares are a fresh issue that would bring Rs600 million into the company; the remaining 3.1 million shares are an offer for sale by sponsor Naved Ali Khan, who is selling his entire holding. The company says the sale would leave public investors with 15.84% of the post-IPO equity. The book-building portion accounts for 70% of the offer, with the remainder reserved for the general public. Topline Securities is acting as lead investment bank and Haidermota & Co as transaction legal adviser.