The company, founded and which first started out as a traditional sundry shop by entreprenuer Lee Thiam Wah in 1987, plans to offer up to a 17% stake, or as much as 1.43 billion shares, the draft prospectus showed.

About 85.3% of that will be sold to institutional and selected investors and the balance to retail investors, according to the preliminary prospectus.

The draft prospectus did not provide the IPO price, its size or timeline.

The company said proceeds will be used for expansion of new outlets in Malaysia, establishment of new distribution centres and the purchase of delivery trucks, among other things.

It will also use the proceeds for repayment of existing bank borrowings.

99 Speed Mart targets to open on average 250 new outlets annually with an immediate target for around 3,000 outlets operating nationwide by end of 2025.

It currently operates 2,542 outlets across Malaysia and 19 distribution centres.

CIMB Investment Bank is the principal adviser, sole bookrunner, sole managing underwriter and underwriter for the IPO.

(Reporting by Yantoultra Ngui; Editing by Bernadette Baum)