BF Biosciences raises Rs1.93b in IPO

BF Biosciences has successfully raised Rs1.93 billion by selling 25 million shares at Rs77 each through a two-day Dutch auction that concluded at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Thursday. The funds will be utilised to acquire export certificates to boost sales in Central America, Africa, and Afghanistan, increase working capital, and add new products, it was learnt. The offering was oversubscribed by 3.4 times, with total demand reaching Rs4.7 billion during the book-building process, part of the company's Initial Public Offering (IPO). "Several brokerages issued unanimous 'subscribe' calls, leading to investor demand of Rs4.7 billion against the IPO's book-building size of Rs1.375 billion," according to a company statement. The pharmaceutical firm started bidding at a minimum price of Rs55 per share on Wednesday. High demand from institutional and high-net-worth individual investors pushed the price to Rs77 per share, the maximum allowed increase of 40%, indicating ample liquidity in the market.