SINGAPORE, Sept 9 (Askume) – Malaysia’s largest mini-market chain 99 Speed Mart Retail surged 16.4% on Monday after its listing, the country’s biggest domestic listing in seven years, raising 2.36 billion ringgit (Rs 2.36 billion).
99 Speed Mart shares opened at 1.85 ringgit on Bursa Malaysia, up 12.1% from the initial public offering price of 1.65 ringgit per share.
The stock rose to RM1.92 before the noon break, while the local benchmark index (.KLSE) gained 0.08%.
99 Speed Mart, a traditional grocery store founded by Li Tianhua in 1987, plans to use the proceeds from the IPO to open about 250 stores per year until 2027, up from 2,526 to about 3,000, according to its prospectus.
“This funding will be the driving force behind our expansion plans,” Lee said in a press statement on Monday.
According to a stock filing last week, 99 Speed Mart’s second-quarter net profit rose 66.3% to RM125.5 million, with revenue rising 8.2% to RM2.4 billion, helped by new stores and its e-commerce platform.
99 Speed Mart’s IPO is Malaysia’s biggest since the listing of South Korea’s Lotte Chemical Titan Holdings (LOTT.KL) in 2017 .
The listing is also the largest IPO in Southeast Asia after Amman Mining International (AMMN.JK) listed in Indonesia in July 2023 .
99 Speed Mart’s strong debut bodes well for its upcoming launch in Malaysia. LSEG data shows that so far this year, funds raised in Malaysian IPOs have doubled to US$1.3 billion from US$593 million in the same period last year, making it the best-performing stock in Southeast Asia this year.
Bursa Malaysia (BMYS.KL) Chief Executive Muhammad Omar Swift told Askume last week he expected a healthy pipeline by 2026.
Companies looking to go public could include Malaysian mobile data services company U Mobile, which plans a domestic IPO and hopes to raise more than $500 million by the first half of 2025, according to Askume.
According to LSEG, the positive IPO market comes against the backdrop of strong equity markets, local benchmark indices(.KLSE) is expected to rise 13.7% in 2024, on track for its best annual performance in more than a decade.
CIMB Bank (CIMB.KL) is the lead advisor for the IPO.
(1 USD = 4.3480 Ringgit)
