The chairperson of Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) standing committee on Venture Capital & Private Equity, Ms Arjumand A Qazi held separate meetings with Omer Ayub Khan, Minister of State for Finance, and Chairman, SECP, Razi-ur-Rahman in Islamabad.
He apprised them about the committee's forthcoming activities planned for creating awareness about the concepts of Venture Capital and Private Equity in the business community of the country. She informed them that the committee would assist in capacity building of the local businesses through conferences and monthly workshops.
The Minister of State informed her about Finance Ministry's initiative of establishing the 'Competitiveness Support Fund' with the assistance of USAID to help in developing incubators, VC funds and technical assistance to the potential business sectors. It was agreed that the FPCCI committee would provide full assistance in this initiative and work towards achieving the aims and objects of the Fund by including the same in the forthcoming conferences and workshops.
During meeting with the SECP chief, she discussed matters related to regulatory requirements to be put in place to attract foreign investments in VC & PE finance.
Arjumand said that the VC/PE funds interested in investing in Pakistan's ventures need, among other regulations, very stable and deem Capital Markets capable to absorb large offerings through IPOs to facilitate the exit strategies of these funds. As practised in other countries, the Exit Strategy for Venture Capital/PE cycles opt for IPOs as one of the most popular options.-PR