KUALA LUMPUR: ACE Market-bound Mymbn Bhd
will use the bulk of its listing proceeds to finance its business operations.
This includes the purchase and renovation of a new facility to further expand its processing capacity, as well as for the setting up of three bird’s nests collection centres in Sabah and Sarawak.
Money will also go to the expansion into the processing and sale of raw clean edible bird’s nests (RCEBN) and for the purchase of raw bird’s nests.
Principally involved in the processing and sale of edible bird’s nests (EBN), specifically the raw unclean edible bird’s nests (RUCEBN), MYMBN plans to raise RM20.58mil from its initial public offering (IPO) of 98 million new shares at an issue price of 21 sen a share.
Executive director and chief executive officer Lavernt Chen said in line with the group’s expansion plans, the expanded processing facility will enable it to increase its RUCEBN processing capacity and at the same time enhance its processing and operational efficiency.
“This will greatly cater to our expansion into Vietnam and also house the operations of a new company for the sale of our halal ready-to-drink bird’s nest products,” he said at its prospectus launch.
While China accounts for 98.6% of MYMBN’s revenue in financial year 2022, the group is establishing its market presence in Vietnam.
“In order to reduce our reliance on the Chinese market, we expanded into Vietnam with the first shipment in April this year.
“While we do not expect to see a big jump in the increase in revenue from our venture into Vietnam, this move will allow us to diversify our markets,” Chen said.
MYMBN plans to allocate RM8.05mil towards working capital and related capital expenditure catered for the expansion of its existing headquarters and processing facility.
Some RM6.6mil will be used to finance the additional purchases of raw bird’s nests for RUCEBN.
Another RM1.68mil will be allocated for the setting up of three bird’s nest collection centres in Sabah and Sarawak, while RM1.25mil will be allocated for the expansion into the processing and sale of the RCEBN segment.
The remaining RM3mil will be used to defray listing expenses.
Chen said the understanding of bird’s nests is not apparent yet in Malaysia, particularly in the Muslim market.
“This is why we are expanding into the halal ready-to-drink bird’s nest products, which will mainly cater for the Malay market as a quality and affordable product.
“On the other hand, there is a huge demand for bird’s nests in China. There is also a strong culture of eating bird’s nests in Vietnam.”
He said the bottled drink market in Vietnam was a sizeable one, so the consumption of bird’s nests has been growing in Vietnam.
“As such, we are now in a very good position to tap into the growing demand of EBN, whether it is RUCBEN and RCEBN, across these countries,” he said.
At present, MYMBN will continue to be a pure play bird’s nest company.
“Our focus will be bird’s nest-related products because that is our strength and we can fully leverage on our resources. There are a lot of things that we can do with bird’s nests,” Chen said.
MYMBN has plans to set up three bird’s nest collection centres in Tawau, Sibu and Kuching.
“Sabah and Sarawak has more than 450, or over 20% of the swiftlet houses with identification registrations and Malaysian Good Agricultural Practice certification from the Veterinary Services Department, representing a substantial source of bird’s nests in Malaysia.
“These centres will enable us to increase our physical presence in Sabah and Sarawak, where we would be able to source for additional raw bird’s nests in light of our expansion plan into the processing and sale of RCEBN,” Chen said.
MYMBN’s IPO entails a public issue of 98 million new shares at an offer price of 21 sen per share.
Some 19.3 million shares will be made available to the Malaysian public while 18.68 million shares will be offered to its eligible directors, employees and individuals who have made contributions to its success.
A total of 60.02 million shares will be sold to selected investors through a private placement.
With an enlarged share capital of 386 million shares, MYMBN will have a market capitalisation of RM81mil upon listing on the ACE Market of Bursa Malaysia on July 25.
Mercury Securities Sdn Bhd is the principal adviser, sponsor, sole underwriter and sole placement agent for the IPO.
