Malaysian Convenience Store Chain 99 Speedmart Accelerates Expansion

This story is part of Forbes’ coverage of Malaysia’s Richest 2025. See the full list here.

Last September’s listing of 99 Speed Mart Retail Holdings raised $532 million in what was Malaysia’s biggest IPO in seven years. It catapulted the minimart chain’s founder Lee Thiam Wah into the ranks of billionaires and earned the 61-year-old CEO a debut spot among the country’s richest this year.

Lee started out in 1987 with one shop selling sundries in the port city of Klang and has grown it into a chain of 2,750 convenience stores, bigger than rival 7-Eleven in Malaysia, which had just under 2,700 as of December. He has earmarked part of the IPO proceeds for store expansion, targeting a store count of 3,000 by year-end with new outlets in the east Malaysian states of Sarawak and Sabah.

“Backed by the proceeds from our IPO, we are well poised to accelerate our expansion and meet growing demands,” Lee said in February when the company reported a 23% jump in after-tax profit for 2024 to 490.3 million ringgit.

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