Pakistan Stock Exchange extended the bookbuilding process for its planned IPO by one day until June 8, after receiving approval from the country's securities regulator.

The IPO has so far received low investor interest, as bids for over 45% of the offered shares, or approximately 77 million shares, were received in two days, The News reported June 8, citing officials involved in the process.

PSX said June 7 it is offering 160,295,320 ordinary shares to high-net-worth and institutional investors at a floor price of 28 rupees per share, while 25% of the offer size, or 40,074,000 shares, will be offered to the retail investors at a strike price determined through the bookbuilding process. PSX officials expect the strike price to come in between 30 rupees per share and 31 rupees per share, according to the report.

The bookbuild started June 6 and the entire stake divestment process is expected to be completed by the end of June.

Earlier, the bourse in December 2016 sold a 40% stake to a Chinese-led consortium at 28 rupees per share.

The Pakistan Stock Exchange is an integrated bourse established in January 2016 as a result of the merger of the stock exchanges of Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad.