MALAYSIAN convenience-store chain 99 Speed Mart Retail Holdings has launched its RM2.4 billion (S$715 million) listing, in what would be the country’s biggest debut in seven years.
The deal is set to further boost Malaysia’s initial public offering (IPO) market, where listings so far this year have raised more money than they did in all of 2023. The debut is offering up to 1.43 billion shares at RM1.65 apiece, according to its prospectus dated Thursday (Aug 15).
99 Speed Mart said it will list its shares on Sep 9 and plans to use proceeds to expand its outlets and pay debt. Lee Thiam Wah, the company’s founder and chief executive, and his wife and company director Ng Lee Tieng will sell up to 72 per cent of the shares on offer, while the company will be raising up to RM660 million in new shares.
Founded in 1987 as a single sundry store in the state of Selangor, 99 Speed Mart has more than 2,600 outlets, according to its prospectus. It posted a profit after tax of RM133.2 million on revenue of RM2.4 billion for the first three months of 2024.
The company also operates an online platform offering bulk purchases for retail and enterprise customers, and has incorporated trading companies in China for product procurement. It briefly entered the Singapore market in 2019 but exited within a year due to the pandemic.
New share sales in Malaysia have raised US$740 million so far this year, eclipsing the US$663 million raised in all of 2023, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. 99 Speed Mart’s listing would be the biggest since petrochemical producer Lotte Chemical Titan Holding’s US$849 million offering in 2017.
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This year’s IPOs have included palm oil producer Johor Plantations Group, which at US$156 million was the largest debut in the country since 2022, and Alpha IVF Group’s US$98 million listing. Others on tap include South Korea-based OCI Holdings, which is considering listing its Malaysian polysilicon unit on the Kuala Lumpur stock exchange to raise as much as US$320 million, Bloomberg News has reported.
The South-east Asian nation’s market regulator along with the stock-exchange operator, Bursa Malaysia, earlier this year said they’d committed to a three-month approval period for IPO applications received from Mar 1. The process previously typically took as long as six months to complete.
Malaysia has rekindled favour with global investors after years of lacklustre growth and policy confusion due to a rapid turnover in leadership. The country’s artificial intelligence (AI) push has also made it a key bet on AI-related services in the region.
CIMB Investment Bank, Affin Hwang Investment Bank and RHB Investment Bank are underwriters in the offering. BLOOMBERG
