KARACHI: QistBazaar, one of Pakistan’s leading Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) and instalment-financing platforms, has raised Rs500 million through a privately placed Sukuk, the first tranche in a planned series of issuances.
The transaction is Pakistan’s first unrated, privately placed Sukuk of its kind. Dada Partners acted as exclusive financial adviser to QistBazaar and led the capital raise, placing the issue in full with investors sourced through the institutional relationships of its Founder and Managing Partner Shazad Dada. The Sukuk was subscribed by the Alfalah Shariah Private Financing Fund-I, managed by Alfalah Asset Management Company.
Al Hamd Shariah Advisory Services (Private) Limited served as Shariah advisor certifying the structure, Pak Brunei Investment Company Limited acted as investment agent, and Akhund Forbes provided legal counsel on the transaction.
The Rs500 million raised will be deployed towards expanding QistBazaar’s Sharia-compliant consumer instalment financing portfolio, enabling the company to extend financing to underserved and unbanked consumers. The capital will support increased financing origination, expansion of the merchant network, entry into new product categories and a wider geographic footprint.
Arif Lakhani, co-founder QistBazaar, said the Sukuk represented more than a new source of capital, noting that the confidence shown by corporate and high-net-worth investors validates the business they have built and the opportunity that lies ahead. He added that the funding would give the company greater capacity to serve more customers and bring more Pakistanis into the formal financial system, crediting Dada Partners’ institutional relationships for bringing the issuance to market.
