ABHI Microfinance Bank Limited has priced its initial public offering at Rs 15.50 per share, helping the bank raise Rs 1.534 billion in the first phase of its listing on the Pakistan Stock Exchange. The strike price was 3.33 percent above the floor price of Rs 15, following the completion of two days of Dutch bidding, also known as book building, on Friday. The bank, billed as Pakistan’s first fintech led microfinance bank, sold 99 million shares in this phase to corporate, institutional and high net worth investors.
Demand exceeded supply. The bank received bids for 157.17 million shares against the 99 million offered, which means the book building round was oversubscribed by about 59 percent. The share price was allowed to rise by as much as 50 percent, or Rs 7.50, to a maximum of Rs 22.50 from the floor price, but bidding settled at a much smaller premium. A further 33 million shares will be offered to general retail investors at the determined price on November 12 and 13. That portion is expected to raise another Rs 511.5 million, which would bring the total raised through the offering to Rs 2.046 billion.
The proceeds are meant to rebuild the bank’s regulatory capital base and to continue growth in its advances portfolio. The bank’s capital adequacy ratio stood at negative 6.26 percent as of June 30, 2026, well below the State Bank of Pakistan’s minimum of 15 percent for microfinance banks. The bank’s financial model projects that the new capital, together with retained profits, will lift the ratio to 7.31 percent by the end of calendar year 2026 and to 17.77 percent by the end of 2027. That would place the bank above the minimum requirement during 2027, ending a period in which its capital fell short of the regulatory floor.
The offering is notable for the type of institution involved, since a microfinance bank that grew out of a fintech has rarely used the stock exchange to raise capital in this way. The strong response from institutional investors in the book building phase suggests confidence in the bank’s recovery plan, while the retail portion will show how far that interest extends to smaller investors. With the pricing now fixed, attention turns to the retail window on November 12 and 13, after which the bank is expected to complete its listing and report how much of the issue was taken up.
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