From Jan 18, the first Initial Public Offering (IPO) from Matco Foods will start its book building process. Matco Foods expects to raise Rs 757 million from the market.
According to Matco Foods Director Faizan Ali Ghori, Matco will be the first rice company to be listed in PSX. Matco is willing to float 29.1 million shares with the reserve price of Rs.26, which is 25 percent of the company.
“The post listing process will start on Jan 18, along with the book building process and this will end on Jan 24. During the book building process, only high end investors will be allowed, who bid Rs.1 million or more. On the basis of book building, shares from the IPO will be offered to the general public on Jan 29 and 30 and this will end the listing process of Matco.” Mr. Ghori told.
Faizan Ali Ghori told that the amount will be used to set up a state of the art rice base glucose plant at Port Bin Qasim. The plant has the capacity to produced 30 thousand tons of glucose. Currently Matco is operating a glucose plant at the Super Highway, with the plant producing nearly 10 tons yearly.
The demand for glucose is growing in the local and export market. Rice base glucose does not cause allergies and it sells on a premium price as compared to other glucose sources.
Faizan told that rice glucose is a business-to-business product. It is mostly bought as a food, and the pharmaceutical industry also uses it in different products.
About Matco Foods
Matco Foods is a family-owned company. They have been in the rice business since 1964.
In 2012, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), World Bank’s private investment arm invested in Matco, with upto 20% equity.
Matco currently has plants in Karachi, Sindh and Sadhoke, Punjab. The total assets of the company (including plants and machinery) is worth more than $30 million.
