By Omer Bilal Islamabad, Nov 09 (INP-WealthPK) Pak Agro Packaging Ltd (PAPL) has raised Rs198 million through the initial offering of its 40 per cent post-listing stake via book building. The strike price was Rs24.75 per share against the floor price of 22.50 per share. AKD Securities served as adviser to the issue, which was oversubscribed 1.85 times. Investors placed bids for 14.8 million shares for the 8 million shares. Given the floor price of Rs22.50 per share, the company was to raise at least Rs180 million. The strike price could possibly go up 40pc based on interest from investors, which would’ve raised a maximum amount of Rs252 million. In a tweet, Chief Executive Pakistan Stock Exchange Farrukh H Khan informed about the details of the shares being issued by the PAPL, as total bids received were worth PKR366.45 million. The total amount raised is PKR198 million at a strike price of PKR 24.75 per share. Investors submitted bids for 14.79 million shares against the eight million shares. The offer constitutes the maiden listing on the Growth Enterprise Market (GEM) Board of the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX). The GEM Board is reserved for “growth companies” that are exposed to a higher degree of investment risk, including liquidity risk, than mature companies that are typically listed on the main board of the PSX. PAPL intends to use the proceeds of the issue to fund its diversification into fishing net manufacture, with Rs92 million in capital expenditure on plant and machinery. The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) under the directions of the SECP Policy Board revamped the public offering framework, reviewed the Securities Act, 2015 and introduced Growth Enterprise Market (GEM) to provide an enabling environment for capital formation and investment opportunities to the investors and mobilizing savings of the individuals. Approval of SECP is not required on the Information Memorandum (IM) of a Growth Company applying for listing on the Growth Enterprise Market (GEM). GEM is a listing platform aimed at facilitating growth-oriented businesses whether small, medium or greenfield businesses to raise capital to fund their growth and expansion plans. Only eligible investors are authorized to invest and trade shares in the GEM Board, which includes institutional investors and individual investors. Institutional investors include financial institutions, a company as defined in the Companies Act, insurance company, trust, securities, broker funds, foreign investors, and any other entity as specified by the SECP, whereas individual investors are persons registered with the National Clearing Company Limited (NCCPL) having net assets of PKR15 million other than the residential property. The investor investing PKR50,000 will have to pay an initial listing fee of 0.05% for post paid-up capital. The Annual Listing Fees include PKR50,000 on Paid Up Capital up to PKR50 million, PKR100,000 on Paid Up Capital between PKR 50-100 million and PKR200,000 on Paid Up Capital exceeding PKR100 million.