KUALA LUMPUR (June 14): Oriental Kopi Holdings Bhd, which operates a cafe chain and sells packaged food, has filed for an initial public offering (IPO) on the ACE Market to raise funds to add the number of outlets, set up new kitchens and stores.

The proposed IPO comprises entirely of public issue of 418.1 million new shares at a price to be determined later, according to a draft prospectus posted on Bursa Malaysia’s website. There is no separate tranche for the sale of existing shares.

“We propose to set up a total of 15 new owned-operated cafes progressively between 2024 and 2026 in various states,” Oriental Kopi said in the prospectus.

Oriental Kopi currently has about 14 cafes under the Oriental Kopi brand in shopping malls, shoplots and airport retail malls throughout Malaysia. The company also sells in-store packaged coffee and tea, as well as other food such as spreads, pastries, instant noodles, and seasonal items such as moon cakes.

The company secured its first order for the export in February to Hong Kong, and signed a joint venture agreement with Paradise Group to expand its Oriental Kopi cafe into Singapore.

To support the expansion, Oriental Kopi plans to set up of a new central kitchen. The cafes will only carry out minimal final preparation, cooking and plating to complete the dish, ready to be consumed in the cafes, it said.

Further, Oriental Kopi wants to add four specialty retail stores between 2025 and 2026, as part of expansion of its consumer-branded packaged foods segment. The company currently only has one retail store in Johor.

The company has also budgeted some of the proceeds for marketing activities, as working capital, and to defray listing expenses. Oriental did not earmark any of the proceeds to repay bank borrowings.

Under the IPO, the company has set aside 60 million new shares for the public and 20 million shares for eligible persons. Oriental Kopi will also sell 88.1 million new shares to select investors and 250 million shares to Bumiputera investors, both through private placement.

All in all, the listing will offer investors up to 21% stake in the company, currently owned by Datuk Chan Jian Chern, his sister Chan Yen Min, and brother-in-law Koay Song Leng. The Chan siblings and Koay are also co-founders of the “Black Whale” bubble tea chain and have since sold their shares in the operations and resigned as directors. 

Last year, Oriental Kopi’s net profit more than doubled to RM20.03 million from RM9.56 million in 2022, as revenue nearly tripled to RM133.01 million from RM48.64 million, according to the disclosure in the draft prospectus.

Alliance Islamic Bank is the IPO’s principal adviser, sponsor, sole underwriter and placement agent.