Creador completes exit from Malaysia's Mr DIY

The private equity firm, which had to exit its stake because the fund in question is set to expire in August, sold 464m shares at MYR 1.43 apiece, representing a 6.5% discount to the previous closing price. The stock last traded at MYR 1.55, giving the company a market capitalisation of around MYR 14.6bn.

Of the total shares placed, 360m shares were acquired by institutional investors. The other 105m shares were taken up by the Mr DIY and Creador management teams. 

“We have tremendous respect for the management team's dedication and vision, and we are confident that MR DIY will continue to grow and thrive,” Brahmal Vasudevan, founder and CEO of Creador, said in a statement. “We believe this final exit will eliminate any remaining overhang on the stock price and allow it to potentially increase to its fair value.”

Creador first invested in Mr DIY in 2016, making its largest investment to date by committing USD 140m across two funds. The company, which had about 200 outlets at the time, was considered under the radar of regional investors but primed for growth.

Mr DIY now has more than 1,300 stores across Malaysia, Brunei, and the Philippines. It delivered a profit after tax of MYR 473m in financial 2022 and paid dividends of MYR 204m during the year. Revenue is said to have grown 25% a year for the past five years.

The company completed a MYR 1.51bn domestic IPO in 2021. Creador, which made partial exits through the IPO and a subsequent secondary trade, was sitting on a 7x return as of early 2022.

Creador closed its fifth fund earlier this year at the hard cap of USD 680m. It writes cheques of USD 40-60m. The firm’s consumer strategy has historically focused on end customer-facing models, but this is shifting further upstream.

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• Topics
• Southeast Asia
• Consumer
• Open market
• Malaysia
• Creador