BF Biosciences IPO oversubscribed by 3.4 times

KARACHI: The book-building process of BF Biosciences’ initial public offer (IPO) has concluded with an oversubscription of 3.4 times, the company said on Thursday.

The IPO received an overwhelming response from institutional investors and high-net worth individuals as the strike price clocked in at Rs77 per share, a max 40 per cent higher than the floor price of Rs55.

BF Biosciences has raised Rs1.93 billion in total, making it the first pharma sector IPO in 2024.Several brokerages had issued almost unanimous calls to ‘subscribe,’ which resulted in investor demand amounting to Rs4.7 billion against the IPO’s book-building size of Rs1.375 billion.

People will subscribe to 6.25 million shares (25 percent of the total offer size) on October 2 and 3 at the strike price of Rs77. Farhan Rafiq, COO BF Biosciences, in his message thanked investors for their overwhelming response and vowed to ensure growth of their shareholders’ equity.

This strategic initiative is expected to drive significant growth in both the company’s top line and profitability as the company has already completed a brownfield expansion and the IPO will also help the company manage working capital needs of this expansion.

CEO Arif Habib Limited Shahid Ali, the lead manager and book runner to the issue, said that the IPO of BF Biosciences received an exceptional response, with an impressive participation of Rs4.7 billion.

This marks a significant milestone, as it has been a considerable time since an IPO has garnered such overwhelming interest, achieving an oversubscription of 3.4 times and a premium of 40 per cent over its floor price.