WHAT do Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC Private Ltd, the husband-and-wife team behind 99 Speed Mart, the founding brothers of Mr DIY, and private equity firm Creador have in common? They all walked away with a massive windfall that ran into the 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 undisputed 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 accounted for 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.