Daily Times

KARACHI: In the backdrop of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), the legacy company of Ittefaq Foundries – Alshafi Group of Companies’ subsidiary Ittefaq Iron Industries Limited (IIIL) – has filed for an initial public offering (IPO) on the domestic stock market to boost its capital.

Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) shared that IIIL has applied for a listing on the Exchange and has submitted the draft prospectus for the issue of shares to high net-worth individuals, institutional investors through Book Building, followed by offer of shares to the general public or retail investors.

The IPO comprises of 41,750,000 ordinary shares of Rs 10/- each which constitutes 31.82% of the total post IPO paid-up capital of the company. The Issue is being made through the book building process at a Floor Price of Rs 12.00 per share. Eligible investors, who can place their bids in the book building process include individual and institutional investors both local and foreign, whose bid amount is not less than Rs 1 million (including a premium of Rs 2.00 per share), whereby 75% of the total issue size i.e. 31,312,500 ordinary shares will be issued through the book building process to eligible investors. The balance 25% of the total issue size i.e. 10,437,500 ordinary shares, will be issued to the general public through retail offer at the strike price determined through the book building process. The Prospectus for issue of shares has been duly cleared by PSX and approved by The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP).

In its draft prospectus, the IIIL said that despite reasonable increase in the steel usage per capita of Pakistan over the past decade, the country still lags behind its regional peers while significant demand of steel products is unmet as per world steel statistics 2016. ‘Nevertheless, the country has seen increased construction activities based on mega projects like CPEC, public and private housing schemes, power projects etc. and the steel sector is one of the direct beneficiaries of the increased economic and business activities across the country”.

It is important to mention here that Usman Javed, Chief Executive Officer at IIIL is the son of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s cousin, Mian Muhammad Javed Shafi.

The company said it is also set to get maximum benefits from the continuously growing demand of steel products and therefore the management of the company has managed to secure various supply contracts based on its strong clientele base and quality of products. The company is working on, or has secured commitments to work in, future projects which include Orange Line Metro Project, CPEC (Karachi Lahore Motorway, E-4 Motorway, MIS, Gojra Shorkot Motorway, Karot Power Project, Trimmu Barrage, Greater Karachi Bulk Water Supply Scheme-K IV, Gulpur Power Project, Pakistan Kidney and Liver Institute, Neelam Jehlam Power Project, Head Balloki Bhikki Power Project, Gorkin Matiltan HPP Project, Ghotki Feeder Canal Project, Mangla Rehabilitation Project, Mirpur-Azad Kashmir, Haweli Bahadur Shah Power Project, Multan Industrial Estate and 48 MW Jaggran-II HPP, AJK.

The PSX is seeking public comments on the draft prospectus of IIIL and has requested the general public to submit written comments on the draft prospectus, if any, either in hard form or through email at the latest by March 14th, 2017.