IPOs: hunger for corporate paper

The record-breaking, Rs5.8 billion and five-second subscription of the Service Long March (SLM) Tyres' 75% share in the IPO highlights the massive pent-up demand for quality corporate paper in Pakistan. Beyond this single success, regulators must aggressively incentivise more listings on the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) to transform a struggling economy into a private sector-led $1 trillion powerhouse. Key reasons to accelerate PSX listings Driving documentation and transparency: Listing forces companies to open their financial accounts to intense public scrutiny, strict regulatory compliance and a moral obligation to protect minority shareholders. This transition brings hidden wealth into the formal economy, dismantling the parallel system of fake accounts used by undocumented sole proprietorships to evade legitimate taxes. Providing unrivalled investor protection: The rigorous process...