99 Speed Mart eyes Sept market debut as Malaysia's biggest IPO in 7 years, sources say

By Yantoultra Ngui

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Malaysia's top mini-market chain retailer 99 Speed Mart Retail Holdings aims to make its market debut on Sept. 9 after raising $509 million in an IPO set to be launched next month and which would be the country's biggest in seven years, two people said.

99 Speed Mart, founded by entrepreneur Lee Thiam Wah in 1987 as a traditional sundry store, plans to offer an up to 17% stake, or as much as 1.43 billion shares for its IPO, according to draft prospectus filed in March.

The initial public offering comprises up to 1.03 billion existing shares and 400 million new shares, the prospectus showed.

The company did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment on its debut timeline, which has not been reported previously, and the targeted amount from the public offering.

The sources declined to be named as they were not authorised to speak to the media.

At 2.36 billion ringgit ($508.84 million), 99 Speed Mart's IPO would be Malaysia's largest since South Korea's Lotte Chemical Titan Holding's listing in 2017, according to LSEG data.

The offering will also be Southeast Asia's biggest IPO in over one year since Amman Mineral Internasional's listing in Indonesia in July last year, the data showed.

The amount raised from Malaysian IPOs amounted to $674 million so far this year, up almost 15% compared to the same period a year ago, LSEG data showed, making it the best performer in Southeast Asia this year.

An active pipeline, including the planned IPO of Malaysian mobile data service company U Mobile that is expected to raise more than $500 million, would help carry the current strong IPO market activity in Malaysia into next year.

99 Speed Mart said in the draft prospectus that IPO proceeds would be used for expanding in Malaysia, setting up distribution centres, and purchasing delivery trucks, among other things.

It will also use the proceeds to repay existing bank loans.

99 Speed Mart is aiming to open on an average 250 new outlets annually with an immediate target of around 3,000 outlets operating nationwide by end of 2025. It currently operates 2,542 outlets across Malaysia and 19 distribution centres.

($1 = 4.6380 ringgit)

(Reporting by Yantoultra Ngui; Editing by Sumeet Chatterjee and Miral Fahmy)