Cooking oil manufacturer Agro Processors & Atmospheric Gases Ltd is planning an initial public offering in Pakistan this month to finance a plant expansion, adding to a record year for listings in the country, according to Bloomberg.
The Karachi-based company plans to raise as much as Rs2.6 billion ($9 million), Chief Executive Officer Ahmad Aziz Ghulamhussain said in an interview last month. The company best known for its Soya Supreme cooking oil brand is looking to revamp its image as a broader consumer goods business.
A stock rally and surging retail participation in the last few years is drawing companies in Pakistan back to the equity market. A record 10 deals have already made 2026 the busiest on record for IPOs, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Combined, they have raised a record Rs19.8 billion, the data show, even as the benchmark KSE-100 Index’s lagged peers, with a 3.8 per cent gain this year compared with the MSCI Frontier Markets Index rising 8.7 per cent.
Agro Processors plans to use about 40 per cent of the proceeds to expand refining capacity by a third to 120,000 tonnes a year, according to Ghulamhussain. Sizable amounts will be allocated to build a storage facility and investment in biomass and solar energy to reduce costs, he added.
“We need those funds to be able to accelerate our growth and also accelerate those projects,” Ghulamhussain said. The company recently launched consumer products including mayonnaise, ketchup and chili sauce, he said. It expects revenue and profits to almost double by fiscal 2029, Chief Financial Officar Amyn Rafiq said. Ktrade Securities Ltd is the lead manager to the transaction.
