Bison: Bulk of IPO proceeds for expansion

PETALING JAYA: Convenience store operator Bison Consolidated Bhd, which is en route to the Main Market of Bursa Malaysia on March 29, aims to raise RM88.68 million from its initial public offering (IPO).
“We have plans to invest about RM50 million of our IPO proceeds to expand our network of outlets and enhance our existing outlets in order to meet the growing demands from our customers,” managing director Dang Tai Luk said at the launch of its IPO prospectus last Friday.
Of the RM50 million, RM35.55 million will be used for outlet expansion while RM14.45 million will be invested in business functions and back-end operations, to improve and establish nationwide logistics and IT capabilities in order to support its network and product base.
The rest of the IPO proceeds will be used for working capital and listing expenses.
“Our target is to open another 115 outlets from now until Oct 31, 2017. In addition to that, we will be improving our back-end operations and business functions such as an additional regional distribution centre within Malaysia and we will also set up our own food preparation and packaging facility,” he said.
Bison is involved in the business of press and convenience retailing in Malaysia under their main trade name myNEWS.com. It has a total of 255 outlets comprising 223 myNEWS.com outlets and 24 outlets under the trade names of Newsplus, MagBit and The Front Page. It also operates eight outlets under the trade name “WHSmith” located at Malaysian international airports, under a joint venture with WH Smith Travel Ltd.
Based on the Independent Market Research Report by Smith Zander International Sdn Bhd dated Feb 22, 2016, Bison is the second largest retail convenience store player in Malaysia with a market share of 8.6% in terms of outlet numbers and 6.6% in terms of revenue last year.
Bison’s IPO of 80.62 million ordinary shares of 20 sen each comprises institutional offering of 62.31 million shares and retail offering of 18.30 million shares. The retail price of the IPO shares is RM1.10 each.
The retail and institutional offerings close on March 14 and 15 respectively.