Pakistan Aluminium Beverage Cans Ltd prepares to raise Rs3.3 billion by offering 26% stake through IPO

On 18th June 2021, a statement is issued that the Pakistan Aluminium Beverage Cans Limited (PABC) plans to raise around Rs3.3 billion by offering a 26% stake to institutional and ordinary investors in an initial public offering (IPO) on the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX).

On 22nd and 23rd June 2021, the book-building will take place, while the public to be held on 29th and 30th June 2021

The statement said: “The entire offer of 93.8 million ordinary shares, or 26% of the post-IPO shareholding, will be offered through the book-building process at a floor price of Rs35/share. Successful bidders will be provisionally allotted only 75% of the issue size and the remaining shares will be offered to the retail investors at the strike price.”

The PABC is expected to raise at least Rs3.3 billion in the IPO but based on the interest from investors during the book-building process, the strike price can go up 40 per cent (Rs49/share); thus, supporting the company collect Rs4.6 billion.

The specialist emerging markets investment manager based in Mauritius, Ashmore Mauritius PABC Ltd currently holds 51% shareholding in the company, while Liberty Group, a leading player in the textile and power sectors, owns the remaining 49%.

Liberty Group, the general public and Soorty Enterprises will own 54%, 26% and 20% shareholding, respectively, in the company with the exit of Ashmore following IPO.

In 2017, the company started its operations, as the nation’s only local manufacturer of aluminium beverage cans. However, till then, bottlers in Pakistan and Afghanistan depended on expensive imports.

PABC supplies its aluminium cans to all major carbonated drinks bottlers, comprising PepsiCo and Coca-Cola, both in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Exports to Afghanistan composed 35% of the company’s sales in the calendar year 2020.

The aluminium cans manufacturing plant is established on a 20.9-acre piece of land in Faisalabad’s Special Economic Zone with a current production capacity of 700 million cans/annum, while it is increasing its production capacity by almost 36% to 950 million cans/annum by July 2022.

Afghanistan’s remains the biggest export market of PABC. The company is also in discussion with key beverage bottlers in Bangladesh and Iraq.