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MR D.I.Y. Advances in Malaysia’s Biggest IPO in Three Years

MR D.I.Y. Advances in Malaysia’s Biggest IPO in Three Years

Mr. D.I.Y. Group Bhd. rose on the first day of trading after Malaysia’s biggest home-improvement retailer was oversubscribed about four times this month.

The shares climbed as much as 12.5% from the offer price of 1.60 ringgit to as high as 1.80 ringgit on Monday. They earlier dropped to as low as 1.50 ringgit. The company raised 1.5 billion ringgit ($362 million) in an initial public offering that was the nation’s biggest since Lotte Chemical Titan Holding Bhd.’s $849 million sale in 2017.

The debut may provide a further boost to Malaysia’s equity market, which hosted $477 million of first-time share sales so far in 2020, on track for the busiest year since 2017 when companies raised $1.72 billion via IPOs. Sime Darby Bhd., one of the country’s oldest conglomerates, is looking at a listing its health care unit on the local bourse, as are domestic glove makers Harps Holdings Sdn. and Smart Glove Corp Sdn.

Mr. D.I.Y, 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. It counts Aeon Co. and Tesco Plc among its business partners.

The company’s sales jumped to record in May, quadrupling to 233.5 million ringgit from 51 million ringgit in April after Malaysian government partially lifted coronavirus-driven restrictions to revive the economy. Sales in June were 232.1 million ringgit, according to its prospectus.

The company, which counts the likes of BlackRock Inc. to JPMorgan Asset Management as cornerstone investors, planned to use IPO proceeds to mainly repay bank borrowings.

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.