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KUALA LUMPUR: Mr. DIY Group is in talks with Aberdeen Standard Investments and BlackRock Inc to become fundamental investors in their initial public offering, which could be Malaysia’s largest in more than three years, the sources said.
AIA Group Ltd is also in talks to participate in the first-time share sale of Malaysia’s largest home improvement retailer, according to the source who asked not to be named.
DIY plans to present an official prospectus next week and has set the initial public offering (IPO) price at RM1.60 each, the source said. The offering could raise around RM 1.5 billion (US $ 362 million) depending on the number of shares in your draft prospectus.
The source added that negotiations are ongoing where the alignment of investors could change.
Representatives for Aberdeen Standard, AIA Group, BlackRock and DIY declined to comment.
DIY’s IPO return comes after its sales rose to a record in May, June and July as the government partially lifted restrictions on the motion control order to resuscitate the economy.
At RM1.5 billion, the group’s share sale would be the largest initial public offering in Malaysia since Lotte Chemical Titan Holding Bhd raised US $ 849 million in 2017, data compiled by Bloomberg shows.
The potential deal would give a boost to the nation’s equity capital market, which has only seen $ 96.5 million in IPOs so far this year, setting it up for the slowest year in more than a decade.
Mr DIY, backed by private equity firm Creador, opened its first store in Malaysia in 2005 and now operates more than 622 outlets across the country, according to its website. The company sells more than 16,600 types of products in ten categories including furniture, accessories for computers and mobile devices, hardware, and toys. Tesco plc and Aeon Co are among its business partners.
