99 Speed Mart, one of the largest channels of convenience stores in Malaysia, is one of the last companies in southeast Asia 500, making its debut after its IPO in 2024, the largest in Malaysia in seven years.
With $ 2.2 billion in income, 99 Speed Mart generated enough sales to land it at n ° 158 FortuneThe ranking of the largest companies in Southeast Asia by income. The company currently has 2,833 points of sale and 20 distribution centers across the country, and plans to reach 3,000 points of sale by the end of the year.
But the story of 99 Speed Mart is also a story on its founder, Lee Thiam Wah, because it is the growth of a chain of convenience stores.
Lee contracted polio at a young age and later lost the use of his legs. He was in a wheelchair for a large part of his life. “No one engaged in me because of my physical limits”, he said Forbes In a 2010 interview. In this interview, he quoted the advice of his paternal grandfather: “If you are not working hard, what will you represent?”
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Lee’s retail career started when he started selling snacks from a stand on the roadside. He then opened his first mini-market in 1987 as an exclusive property, then established eighty-nine market in 1992. In 1998, he had a network of 8 mini markets and created 99 Speed Mart two years later.
Now, 99 Speed Mart is the largest mini-player in Malaysia, according to its IPO prospectus. 99 Speed Mart holds 40% of the market against global competition like 7-Eleven, and the chain also holds 11% of the grocery market.
The company raised $ 532 million in a IPO last September, the largest in Malaysia in seven years. The list made Lee a billionaire and one of the richest men in Malaysia.
99 Speed Mart plans to use the product IPO to finance its global expansion. In a interview With Bloomberg after the list, Lee said that he was looking for “good opportunities” to go abroad, but has no “concrete plans”. (99 Speed Mart briefly had an outlet in Singapore, before retiring due to the cocovid pandemic).
In addition to being the CEO of 99 Speed Mart, Lee also operates franchise duties for Burger King in Malaysia and Singapore, and is the third shareholder of Alliance Bank Malaysia, according to Bloomberg.
The shares of 99 SPEED Mart have increased by 9.57% since the IPO of September. The Malaysia FTSE Bursa Malaysia Klci’s reference index is down approximately 8% over the same period.
