In line with market expectations, shares of Barkat Frisian Agro Limited (BFAGRO) surged by the maximum allowed 10% in its debut public trade, hitting the upper limit of Rs20.02 per share at the opening of the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) at 9:17am today (Friday, March 7).
BFAGRO’s share price opened at Rs20.02, marking an increase of Rs1.82 or 10%, compared to its Initial Public Offering (IPO) price of Rs18.2 per share.
The stock recorded trade in 10,642 shares at the cap price this morning with the benchmark KSE-100 Index gaining 867 points to hover at 114,580 points at 9:31am.
BFAGRO – a joint venture of Frisian Egg Group of Netherlands and Pakistan’s Buksh Group – got formally listed at PSX in a gong ceremony this morning.
The lead manager to the IPO, Arif Habib Limited (AHL), CEO Shahid Ali Habib, told Business Recorder that BFAGRO’s share price hitting the upper limit “was expected”.
“This stock traded at even Rs24-25 in the off-market,” he said.
Last month, the company hit the maximum price limit of Rs18.20/share in a two-day book-building phase of IPO on Feb 17-18, raising equity worth Rs1.23 billion after selling 67.74 million shares at the bourse.
This was the second IPO this year, after Zarea Limited, one of Pakistan’s largest commodities B2B platforms, raised Rs1.03 billion by selling 62.5 million shares last week.
Barkat Frisian opened the bidding (book-building) process on Feb 17 at the minimum (floor) price of Rs13/share. It rose by the maximum allowed limit of 40%, hitting cap price/strike price at Rs18.20/share, said Habib
Accordingly, the company raised additional equity worth almost Rs353 million against the set minimum target of Rs880 million, receiving total equity worth Rs1.23 billion.
Barkat Frisian IPO oversubscribed, hits maximum price on opening day
The issue size of 67.74 million shares got oversubscribed by 4.77X in value-term, attracting total bids worth Rs4.2 billion against the minimum set target of Rs880 million at the floor price of Rs13/share, according to AHL.
Habib further said that the company will use proceeds from the IPO to establish a new production facility in Faisalabad.
Established in 2017, Barkat Frisian specialises in high-quality pasteurised egg products, including whole eggs, yolks, whites, and derivatives, catering to the HoReCa (hotel, restaurant, and cafe) sector, sauces, & mayonnaise industry, as well as the baking & confectionery market.
