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Dec 28, 2023

Malaysia's Pet World Nutritions eyes Singapore IPO as early as end

SINGAPORE, Feb 23 (Reuters) - Malaysian pet food maker Pet World Nutritions is

SINGAPORE, Feb 23 (Reuters) - Malaysian pet food maker Pet World Nutritions is planning an initial public offering (IPO) in Singapore to raise up to $100 million, two sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters, in what could be the biggest IPO in Singapore in over a year.

The offering could give a lift to Singapore's IPO activity, which amounted to only $68.7 million last year, not counting IPOs of special purpose acquisition companies, versus $1.94 billion in 2021, according to Refinitiv data.

The last time the city-state hosted an IPO of more than $100 million was in December 2021, when Digital Core REIT (DIGT.SI) raised $977.35 million.

Pet World's IPO size could change, because it was still under considation, one of the sources said.

The company confirmed that it would undertake an IPO but declined to comment on financial details.

Pet World, which makes the ProDiet cat food and ProBalance dog food, said it expected to debut on the Singapore stock exchange as early as the end of 2023.

Proceeds from the offering would be used for further business expansion, it added, responding by email to questions from Reuters.

The IPO comes as increasing disposable income and improving consumer lifestyles in Southeast Asia have led to more people keeping pets.

The pet care market in the region will grow to an estimated $3.08 billion by 2032 from a record $1.6 billion in 2022, according to market intelligence firm Future Market Insights.

Thai pet food maker i-Tail Corp (ITC.BK) raised 21.1 billion baht ($611 million) in November in what was Thailand's second-biggest IPO of 2022.

Founded in 2006 by Malaysian entrepreneur Choy Peng Yew, Pet World Nutritions produces more than 100,000 tonnes of pet food annually, according to its website.

Besides Malaysia, the Selangor-based company counts Thailand, Indonesia, China, Taiwan, Singapore and Brunei as markets, its website shows.

($1 = 34.52 baht)

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Yantoultra Ngui is a Southeast Asia Deals Correspondent with Reuters in Singapore, covering M&A and capital market deals in a region that is fast emerging as a hot destination for startup investors, unicorns and IPOs. He previously was a reporter at Bloomberg and The Wall Street Journal. Notably, he was part of WSJ's team that covered the financial scandal at Malaysian state fund 1MDB. Yantoultra graduated with an MBA in Finance from Universiti Putra Malaysia in 2010.