What do Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC Private Ltd, the husband-and-wife team behind SGP-ride-hailing and the 99-year-old, state-run founding brothers of Mr DIY, and private equity firm Creador have in common? They all walked away with a windfall that ran into hundreds of millions — and, in some cases, billions — of ringgit, following the initial public offerings (IPOs) of the companies they either founded or backed.

Indeed, they are the biggest undiluted winners of Bursa Malaysia’s recent listing boom. And they did it by cashing out their existing personal stakes through sizeable offer-for-sale (OFS) exercises packaged with the IPOs.

Data compiled by The Edge shows that 96 of 213 companies listed on the Main and ACE Markets since 2020 had OFS portions that at least 30% of the total IPO proceeds. Notably, in 12 of these IPOs, the amount cashed out by existing shareholders totally eclipsed the fresh capital raised for the company itself through the issuance of new shares.