(Sept 9): Lee Thiam Wah’s first retail venture was selling snacks from a roadside stall in Malaysia. Several decades later, the entrepreneur has transformed that humble beginning into a sprawling retail empire of more than 2,600 convenience stores across the nation.

Today, the 60-year-old will be minted as a billionaire after his company, 99 Speed Mart Retail Holdings Bhd (KL:99SMART), goes public in Kuala Lumpur. 

The US$531 million (RM2.36 billion) initial public offering (IPO) is Malaysia’s largest in seven years. At the IPO price of RM1.65 per share, Lee’s fortune is about US$3.3 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

The listing cements Kuala Lumpur as the busiest location for market debuts in Southeast Asia this year, and shows investor optimism in the nation’s growth potential. The firm’s shares are seen as a way to build exposure to the consumer sector in an economy that’s projected to expand as much as 5% this year. 

“It comes at a crucial moment for both Malaysia’s IPO landscape and Southeast Asia’s capital markets,” said Mohit Mirpuri, a senior partner and fund manager at Singapore-based SGMC Capital Pte Ltd. “This could boost market sentiment and position Malaysia as a key player” in regional listings, he said.

Lee was born in 1964 in Klang, one of several cities littering the stretch between Kuala Lumpur and the shores of the Malacca Strait. His father, a construction worker, and his mother, a hawker, had 11 children and could only afford to send Lee to school for six years. 

His first retail venture — that roadside stall — was born of necessity. As a child, he contracted polio and permanently lost the use of his legs. 

“Nobody would hire me due to my physical limitation,” he told Forbes in 2012. “I had to help myself.”

Lee opened a grocery shop in 1987, and a decade later, he was running eight stores under the name of Pasar Mini 99, where his wife, Ng Lee Tieng, 44, started her career as a purchasing executive in 1997. Until the IPO, the couple were the company’s sole owners.  

Today, the chain is the largest of its kind in Malaysia, holding a 40% share in the mini-market segment and nearly 12% among all grocery retailers, according to the IPO prospectus.

Lee’s “journey is an inspiring example for small business owners, showing that with determination, perseverance and a customer-focused approach, it’s possible to scale a business, even from humble beginnings”, said SGMC’s Mirpuri.

Lee will remain as the company’s chief executive officer. The 99 Speed Mart chain forms the bulk of his net worth, along with cash collected from dividends and the share sale. 

He also holds stakes in multiple closely held businesses, including the sole Malaysian franchisor of Burger King restaurants. Last year, he also briefly emerged as one of the biggest individual shareholders in Alliance Bank Malaysia Bhd (KL:ABMB) with a roughly 5% stake, regulatory filings showed.

As the FBM KLCI equities benchmark heads to its best year since 2010, listings are back after years of lacklustre growth.  

99 Speed Mart’s listing attracted 14 cornerstone investors that included abrdn Asia Ltd and UOB Asset Management (Malaysia). The stock jumped 14% on its Monday debut to close at RM1.88.

About 28% of the proceeds from the IPO will go to the company, which plans to setup new outlets and distribution centres, purchase delivery trucks and repay loans, according to the prospectus. The company posted a profit after tax of RM133.2 million on revenue of RM2.4 billion for the first three months of 2024. 

The mini-mart operator’s tagline ‘Near n’ Save’ is part of a business model that emphasises convenience and easy access for consumers, said Arun George, an analyst at Global Equity Research who publishes on the platform Smartkarma. 

The scale of the firm’s operations create a barrier to entry and expansion for other mini-market players in Malaysia, “hindering their ability to compete effectively”, he said. 

Read also:
99 Speed Mart the 32nd largest firm by market cap after 14% rise on Bursa debut
99 Speed Mart weighs Southeast Asian expansion plans
Main Market-bound 99 Speed Mart's 2Q profit jumps 66% y-o-y

Uploaded by Tham Yek Lee