ISLAMABAD - Pakistan Aluminum Beverage Cans Ltd (PABC) is planning to raise at least Rs 3.3 billion by offering a 26 per cent stake to institutional and ordinary investors in an initial public offer (IPO) on the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX).
Book building will take place on June 22 and 23, followed by public subscription on June 29 and 30. The entire offer of 93.8 million ordinary shares, or 26 per cent of the post-IPO shareholding, will be offered through the book-building process at a floor price of Rs35 per share. Successful bidders will be provisionally allotted only 75 per cent of the issue size and the remaining shares will be offered to the retail investors at the strike price.
It means PABC will 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 rise by 40 per cent (Rs49 a share), thus helping the company collect Rs4.6 billion. Ashmore Mauritius PABC Ltd, a specialist emerging markets investment manager based in Mauritius, currently holds 51 per cent shareholding in the company while Liberty Group, a leading player in textile and power sectors, owns the remaining 49 per cent stake. With the exit of Ashmore post-IPO, Liberty Group, general public and Soorty Enterprises will own 54 per cent, 26 per cent and 20 per cent shareholding in the company. Established on a 20.9-acre piece of land in Faisalabad’s Special Economic Zone with a current rated capacity of 700 million cans per annum, PABC continues to enjoy a 10-year tax holiday. Euromonitor International puts the size of Pakistan’s soft drinks market at 3.8 billion litres per annum. It expects the market to grow at a five-year annualised rate of seven per cent to reach 5.3 billion litres in 2025 on the back of rising purchasing power, urbanisation and favorable demographics.
With the estimated market size of 275 million cans, aluminum beverage cans in Pakistan account for only 3.6 per cent of total soft drinks sales as opposed to the global average of 19 per cent. PBAC’s biggest export market is Afghanistan as the country does not have local beverage glass manufacturing facilities.
 It commands over 50 per cent market share, thanks to its contracts with key beverage bottlers, including franchisees of Coca-Cola and Pepsi, in Afghanistan.