KARACHI: The Sec­urities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) on Tuesday anno­unced the amended Public Offering Regulations 2017 to introduce a regulatory framework for Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPAC).

An SPAC is a company with no commercial operation that is formed strictly to raise capital through an initial public offering (IPO) for the purpose of merger/acquisition transactions. The concept of SPAC exists in many developed countries like the United States, Canada and Malaysia.

The introduction of SPAC in Pakistan’s market is expected to give a boost to the primary market, encourage new listings and help companies tap capital for large-scale merger/acquisition transactions, a press release said on Tuesday.

It would also enable investors/public to co-invest with sophisticated, highly experienced managers and benefit from the appreciation in the share value of acquired units.

Under the proposed regulatory framework, an SPAC will be a public limited company having paid-up capital of not less than Rs10 million.

Published in Dawn, September 22nd, 2021