Faisalabad-based firm Interloop plans Pakistan’s biggest ever private sector IPO

FAISALABAD: A Pakistani textile firm, which also supplies socks to Nike and Adidas, is planning biggest ever initial public offering by a private firm in the country, Bloomberg reported Friday.

The company plans to raise as much as 6.8 billion rupees ($51 million) to expand its sock manufacturing capacity by around 20 percent and enter the denim business, Chairman and Co-Founder Musadaq Zulqarnain told the US media outlet.

It will offer 12.5 percent of the business in the sale, likely to take place in January, and is aiming to lift revenue by 77 percent over five years, he added.

The government of Prime Minister Imran Khan has announced to help reinvigorate the export industry with cuts in gas and electricity prices and other incentives.

Although there have been larger sales by state-owned enterprises, the Interloop offer will surpass the previous record for a private company, when Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) raised 4.5 billion rupees two years ago, the report added.

Established in 1990, the company now employs around 16,000 people. Revenue for the 12 months through June was 31 billion rupees, according to the chairman.

“They are one of the most well-managed companies in Pakistan, so they should not have a problem with demand,” said Amjad Waheed, chief executive officer at NBP Fund Management Ltd. in Karachi. “Investors are sitting with cash on the sidelines after the market drop over the past year.”