Ningbo Green falls 34% in four sessions after Pakistan's first SPAC listing
Pakistan's first special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) deal has produced a listed company — and, four sessions in, a share price down more than 34%. Ningbo Green Light Energy Limited (NGLEL) closed at Rs13.82 on Tuesday, down from Rs21.06 before its listing last week, having lost close to 10% a day since it began trading on the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) main board on 29 October.
The fall came even as the PSX hosted a gong ceremony on Tuesday to mark the listing. Investors traded 1.93 million NGLEL shares on the fourth day. The company reached the board through a backdoor listing — a reverse merger in which a private company becomes public by merging with an already listed vehicle — following the completion of Pakistan's first SPAC transaction, the exchange said.
NGLEL was the target of LSE SPAC-I Limited, a subsidiary of LSE Capital Ltd that raised Rs250 million in an initial public offering in May and used the proceeds to take a 19.04% stake in the solar energy company, partly owned by Ningbo Green Light Energy Group Company Limited. The business combination was completed through a Scheme of Arrangement sanctioned by the Lahore High Court on 30 September, merging LSE SPAC-I into NGLEL. Under the swap ratio in the scheme, SPAC-I shareholders received 1.50 NGLEL shares for each SPAC-I share, according to the PSX.
Muhammad Qasim, chief executive of NGLEL, called the listing "much more than a financial milestone", saying it gives the solar company a platform to pursue larger opportunities and expand operations, and that the transaction "opened a new chapter for Pakistan's capital market". The market's early verdict, however, has been a sharp re-rating of the shares from their pre-listing level.
The debut matters beyond one company: it is the first live test of the SPAC route on the PSX, and its reception will shape appetite for future vehicles. For now, the gap between the ceremony and the closing price is the story investors will be watching.
