Malaysian minimart king joins billionaire club after IPO debut

Mr Lee Thiam Wah's first retail venture was selling snacks from a roadside stall in Malaysia.

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Several decades later, the entrepreneur has transformed that humble beginning into a sprawling retail empire of more than 2,600 convenience stores spread across the nation.

On Sept 9, the 60-year-old was minted as a billionaire after his company 99 Speed Mart Retail Holdings went public in Kuala Lumpur.

The RM2.36 billion (S$705 million) initial public offering (IPO) is Malaysia's largest in seven years. At the IPO price of RM1.65 per share, Mr Lee's fortune is about US$3.3 billion (S$4.3 billion), the Bloomberg Billionaires Index shows.

The stock opened at RM1.85 and closed at RM1.88, up 14 per cent from the IPO price.

The listing cements Kuala Lumpur as the busiest location for market debuts in South-east Asia in 2024 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 is projected to expand as much as 5 per cent this year.