KARACHI, PAKISTAN: Octopus Digital Limited will sell 20% shares at a floor price of Rs29/share translating into Rs793.15 million, a news release said.

Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) has invited the public comments on the draft prospectus of Octopus Digital, a software development and IT solutions subsidiary of Avanceon Limited, which plans to sell 27.35 million shares through initial public offering (IPO) at Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX).

The IPO will be conducted through 100 percent book building method at floor price of Rs29/share with a maximum price band of up to 40 percent above the floor price, translating into a fund raising of a maximum of Rs1.1 billion.

Octopus is a technology service oriented company that provides After-Market Services (AMS) to a wide range of clients, both locally and internationally. Other IT sector listed companies including Systems Limited (SYS), Netsol Technologies Limited (NETSOL), TRG Pakistan Limited (TRG) and Avanceon Limited (parent of Octopus) are not direct competitors of Octopus, the prospectus notes.

Services and technology sectors require constant automation and upgradation, and the Company and its sponsor are a long standing automation provider for manufacturing industries. Octopus is expecting a robust demand from various manufacturing and industrial sectors across Pakistan, Middle East and USA.

The issue comprises of 27.35 million ordinary shares, which constitutes 20 percent of the total post-IPO paid up capital of Octopus Digital. The strike price will the price at which 100 per cent of the issue is subscribed. However, the successful bidders will be provisionally allotted seventy five percent 75 per cent of the issue size comprising 20.512 million shares and the remaining 6.837 million shares will be offered to retail investors.

Octopus requires funding of Rs793.15 million to develop various digital dashboard platforms to expand its services suite to industry 4.0, which is an industrial revolution that includes automation of traditional manufacturing and industrial practices. The target markets for these services will be Pakistan, Middle East and United States.

Octopus’s business model is based on recurring earnings based on perpetual or term-based multi-year monthly subscription service instead of fixed cost or time & material-based projects thereby reducing risk of volatile earnings as this is prevalent in other conventional businesses in Pakistan.

In Pakistan, companies in the manufacturing sector have many process that are outdated or conducted manually. Octopus in this regard, assists in the automation of these industrial processes through digital dashboard development.

Currently, the move towards digitization and industrial automation is on the rise allowing many relevant technology companies to jump into the process. Automating these industrial processes and providing AMS can be instrumental towards taking the industrial 4.0 revolution