US-based firm Ingredion Incorporated has formally agreed to sell up to 75% of its stake in Rafhan Maize Products, a leading Pakistani starch and food ingredients manufacturer, to Pakistan’s Nishat Group, Ingredion’s financial adviser said on Sunday-Rafhan Maize is a subsidiary of Ingredion Incorporated, a prominent global corn refiner which began its operations in Pakistan as a pioneer of the corn refining industry in 1953. Over the last six decades, Rafhan Maize says it has expanded operations to become one of the country’s premier agro-based industries.
Nishat Group, meanwhile, is a Pakistani private sector business conglomerate. Brokerage firm Arif Habib Limited acted as the exclusive financial adviser to Ingredion Incorporated for the transaction.
“This landmark transaction ranks among the largest M&A deals in Pakistan in nearly two decades, giving the Nishat Group a controlling stake in Rafhan Maize,” Shahid Ali Habib, chief executive officer of Arif Habib Ltd., said in a statement.
He added that Rafhan Maize has a market capitalization of approximately Rs100 billion [$355 million].
Habib described Rafhan Maize as a “market leader” in Pakistan’s starch industry, operating three production facilities nationwide with a production capacity more than five times its nearest competitor.
“Ingredion shall retain a strategic stake in the company and continue to support the Nishat Group,” he added.
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