Symmetry Group strikes first successful IPO

In a remarkable achievement, tech firm Symmetry Group concluded its initial public offering (IPO) at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) with an impressive strike price of Rs4.30 per share. The two-day Dutch bidding process, a first for the year 2023, concluded on Wednesday, securing equity financing of Rs435.33 million through the sale of 101.24 million shares.

Topline Securities, the lead manager of the IPO, reported that the offering was oversubscribed by 1.56 times, reflecting strong investor interest in the tech company’s shares.

Retail investors are set to be offered 25% of the total sold stocks at the attained strike price on August 17-18.

The book building process for the IPO began with a floor price of Rs4.25 per share and reached a maximum of Rs5.95 per share, marking a potential increase of up to 40%.

Topline Securities, CEO, Muhammad Sohail expressed optimism about the offering’s implications, stating that “this offering is likely to open the door for more such offerings at PSX as overall sentiments are improving.”

Symmetry Group outlined in its IPO prospectus that the funds raised would be allocated towards developing new intellectual properties (IPs) through in-house expertise, expanding office space, procuring new equipment, hiring additional teams, and marketing the planned intellectual property.

The company’s primary focus revolves around transforming and digitalising marketing, sales, and other consumer-centric functions for organisations. It provides services such as digital consultancy, digital strategy, IP development, web, mobile, and desktop applications, websites, portals, user interfaces, and IoT (internet of things) devices.

Government borrows Rs1.25 trillion through T-Bills auction

In another financial development, the government raised a substantial Rs1.25 trillion by selling sovereign debt securities, also known as T-bills, to commercial banks. This transaction occurred at a near-historical high rate of return, close to 23%, on Wednesday.

Despite this high rate of return, the government managed to attract significantly higher domestic commercial debt, nearly three times the set target of Rs450 billion for the auction. The consistent stability in return rates at historically high levels facilitated the government’s ability to borrow such a substantial amount.

This substantial borrowing by the government is in line with its requirements for financing budgetary expenditures and managing interest payments on its total loans, which remain substantial.

During the auction, banks extended financing offers totalling Rs1.68 trillion, significantly surpassing the government’s borrowing target of Rs450 billion.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 10^th, 2023.

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