Malaysian retail group Mr DIY has finally launched its IPO after two delays, now seeking to raise US$360.6 million.
The hardware-store company had originally planned to go public late last year and then again in March and at that time was looking to bring in as much as $500 million. But despite the scaled-down ambitions, the listing will still rank as Malaysia’s largest in three years.
CEO Adrian Ong told a press conference after the prospectus was released that the listing would give the company a market value of $2.4 billion. About $75 million of the cash raised would be used to repay debts.
Mr DIY was launched 15 years ago and has since grown into Malaysia’s largest home-improvement retailer, with a network of 678 stores.
“We have a 29-per-cent market share of the overall home-improvement retail market in Malaysia,” Ong said.
The company has also created two more retail formats – a discount toy store called Mr Toys and a dollar-store concept called Mr Dollar. Within the next two years it plans to open another 300-odd stores although it has no plan to expand beyond Malaysia and Brunei.
“We are adding stores at a very fast pace,” said Ong.
Meanwhile, the company says sales have resumed after government-imposed Covid-related lockdowns at a higher level than earlier in the year. In January-February the company’s sales reached $104 million while in May and June they topped $116 million.
