Karachi May 5 2024: Pakistan’s Fast Cables Ltd. is planning one of the nation’s largest share listings this month, taking advantage of a rally in the local stock market to a record high.
The Lahore-based company plans to raise at least 3 billion rupees ($11 million) to boost production, putting it among Pakistan’s 10 biggest initial public offerings, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The country’s largest power-cable maker expects to carry out book building on May 15 and 16, said Managing Director Kamal Mahmood Amjad Mian.
Pakistan’s benchmark stock index has rallied 74% in the past year to make it the world’s best-performing market in dollar terms. That’s helped spark a revival in share sales, with three companies in the process of listing on the exchange.
Investor sentiment has risen after elections earlier this year and smooth progress with the International Monetary Fund for loans. It’s a turn of fate for a nation that was close to bankruptcy last summer.
“At the macro level there is some stability now,” Mian said in an interview. “The market has a long way to go.”
Fast Cables plans to issue 128 million shares at a floor price of 23.5 rupees a share. The book building will be followed by a general public portion. The company is Shariah-compliant with a history of dividend payouts, said Abadan Mohajir, head of investment banking at AKD Securities Ltd., the lead manager for the sale.
The company was started in the 1980s by Mian’s family, who branched out into cables. Its focus on the power infrastructure sector has made it resilient to economic downturns, chalking up an average annual growth rate of almost 50% over the past five years.
The funds from the share sale will be used to increase capacity by a third, with a goal of tripling revenue to around 100 billion rupees by 2030.
Fast Cables was the only Pakistani company that competed with Chinese firms when it won a contract for a key transmission line from a vast coal mine and power project in the Thar desert, according to Mian.
