KARACHI: Barkat Frisian Agro Ltd, a joint venture of Frisian Egg Group of the Netherlands and Pakistan`s Buksh Group, has announced an initial public offering (IPO) to raise up to Rs1.2 billion to set up a new stateof-the-art production facility at the Special Economic Zone of Faisalabad.

The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) and the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) have approved the prospectus and IPO dates including book building and the public subscription, said Arif Habib Ltd Chief Executive Officer Shahid Ali Habib, the lead manager and book runner for the IPO.

Barkat Frisian Agro plans to raise up to Rs1.23bn through selling 67,735,000 of its ordinary shares. The book building will be carried out on Feb 17 and 18, and the public subscriptions on Feb 24 and 25.

Mr Shahid said Barkat Frisian Agro, the country`s largest manufacturer of pasteurised egg products, plans to sell its shares each at a floor price of Rs13 through 100pc book building method.

The company is operating a manufacturing plant in Pakistan`s commercial capital Karachi, and the new plant will increase its pasteurised eggs` production capacity by 71pc to 29,000 tonnes per year from the existing 17,000 tonnes.