A gong rang out at the Pakistan Stock Exchange this week, and it belonged to a phone maker.
Select Technologies Limited, the manufacturing subsidiary of Airlink Communication, has become the first listing of the new fiscal year on the PSX — a symbolic opening act for what regulators hope will be another strong year for Pakistan’s capital markets.
How the Select Technologies PSX Listing Numbers Add Up
The company’s Select Technologies PSX listing didn’t happen quietly. It followed a full book-building and public subscription process that tested real investor appetite, not just headline enthusiasm.
Here’s what the deal looked like on paper:
- Shares offered: 88.88 million ordinary shares, representing 10% of post-issue paid-up capital
- Floor price: Rs 28 per share
- Final strike price: Rs34 during the two-day bidding from the pre-opening bid price of Rs28 per share, a 21% premium
- Total raised: The company is set to raise a total of Rs3.02 billion through its IPO
- Investor base: commercial banks, mutual funds, insurance companies, investment banks, pension and employee funds, brokerage houses and high-net-worth individuals
Public subscription ran on July 2 and 3, with trading opening shortly after. It’s a tidy, well-subscribed debut by regional standards — and it comes at a moment when PSX badly wanted a strong opener.
What Select Technologies Actually Makes
Strip away the ceremony, and Select Technologies is, at its core, an assembly-line business. SELECT is an initiative of Air Link Communication Limited to promote the manufacturing and assembly of state-of-the-art smart devices, built around the “Made in Pakistan” push that’s become a policy priority for successive governments trying to cut the import bill.
The company assembles Xiaomi smartphones under a partnership dating back to 2021, and has more recently added Hisense — the Chinese electronics giant known globally for large-screen TVs — as a manufacturing partner. According to its own prospectus, the company has captured a 15.5% market share of the smartphone assembling sector in Pakistan.
From Smartphones to Appliances — A Deliberate Pivot
Management is now betting big on diversification. Air Link chairman Muzaffar Hayat Piracha framed the logic behind expanding into appliances plainly, telling Business Recorder that appliances are a very vast world, from purifiers to refrigerators to washing machines, and that the company wants to unlock its full potential through market access.
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IPO proceeds are earmarked largely for expanding production capacity at a new facility inside the Sundar Green Special Economic Zone in Punjab — a site that carries tax exemptions and is central to the company’s next growth phase in air conditioners and televisions.
PSX’s Record Year Sets the Backdrop
This listing didn’t arrive in a vacuum. PSX CEO Farrukh H. Sabzwari used the ceremony to highlight what he called a landmark year for the exchange. Per his remarks, FY2026 delivered 11 IPOs, the third highest in 25 years, raising USD 66 million, while average daily traded value hit an all-time high.
A few figures stand out from that run:
- Market capitalisation touched a record PKR 21 trillion in January 2026
- The year closed at Rs 20.20 trillion, equal to roughly 16% of GDP
- Investor accounts reached an all-time high of 583,052
- New account openings averaged around 16,000 a month, sharply up from prior years
SECP Commissioner Zeeshan Rehman Khattak tied the listing to broader policy goals, saying it reflects commendable progress in diversifying Pakistan’s economy and strengthening its capital market ecosystem. It’s the kind of line regulators say often — but the underlying IPO pipeline numbers do lend it some weight this time.
The Questions Investors Are Still Asking
Not everyone is treating the listing as an unqualified success story. A detailed review by Mettis Global, built on written questions put directly to management, found several gaps between the prospectus narrative and the answers investors actually received.
Among the unresolved issues:
- The valuation model’s fair value of Rs 46.75 per share leans heavily on assumptions about terminal growth stretching to FY2031
- Questions about contracted Xiaomi order volumes underpinning revenue projections went unanswered
- The company’s working capital cycle swung between roughly 124, 28 and 112 days across three years — a pattern Mettis Global’s analysts flagged as unusual
- A new TV assembly line is being built even though existing capacity is running at just 5% utilisation
- Airlink incorporated a separate subsidiary, Zexo Technologies, weeks before the IPO was filed, with a mandate covering similar product categories
None of this necessarily undermines the listing. But it’s the kind of detail that separates a ceremony headline from a genuine investment case — and it’s worth reading before anyone treats the 21% premium as a verdict on the company’s fundamals.
Why the Select Technologies PSX Listing Matters Beyond One Company
For Pakistan’s capital markets, symbolism carries weight. Being first through the door each fiscal year sets a tone, and PSX has clearly chosen to frame Select Technologies as proof that local manufacturing — not just banks and cement — can attract serious institutional money.
CEO Adnan Aftab called the listing a proud moment for our entire team, one that validates the company’s position as a local manufacturer in the consumer tech space.
Validation extends to shareholders over the next three to five years depends on execution Sundar SEZ equipment arrives on schedule, whether appliance demand materialises as projected, and whether the unanswered questions from analysts eventually get answers.
For now, the gong has rung, the shares are trading, and Pakistan’s technology-manufacturing story has a new public face.
