Karachi: The book-building phase of Pakistan Aluminium Beverage Cans Ltd (PABC)’s Initial Public Offer (IPO) has concluded with an oversubscription of 3.3 times, the company said on Wednesday. The IPO received an overwhelming response from institutional investors and high-net worth individuals as the strike price clocked in at Rs 49/share, 40% higher than the floor price of Rs 35,” country’s only Beverage Can manufacturer said in a statement. PABC has raised Rs 4.6 billion in total, making it the second largest IPO in the Private-Sector. “The response to the book building has been phenomenal” said Shahid Habib CEO of Arif Habib Ltd, Advisor and Book Runner of the Issue. Several brokerages had issued almost unanimous calls to ‘subscribe,’ which resulted in investor demand amounting to Rs 10.8 billion against the IPO’s book-building size of Rs 3.3 billion. The general public will subscribe to 23.4 million shares (25 percent of the total offer size) on June 29/30 at the strike price of Rs.49″ the company said. Azam Sakrani, CEO Pakistan Aluminium Beverage Cans Ltd, in his statement thanked the institutions and individual investors for showing interest and trust in PABC and assured that their investment in the company would yield greater dividends. The company started its operations in 2017 as the country’s only local manufacturer of aluminum beverage cans. PABC supplies beverage cans to the bottlers of all major carbonated drinks, including PepsiCo and Coca-Cola, in both Pakistan and Afghanistan. Exports to Afghanistan constituted 35 percent of the company’s sales in calendar year 2020. 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. The company is increasing its rated capacity by almost 36 per cent to 950 million cans per annum by July next year. It has grown its revenue at an annual rate of 18.7 per cent in the last five years. In the third full year of its operation (2020), the company’s net profit amounted to Rs 610.7 million, up 314 per cent from 2019. It expects its bottom line to grow at 140 per cent in 2021.