Sabah-based Life Water Bhd, a company which produces drinking water and carbonated beverages, has filed a draft prospectus for an initial public offering (IPO) with the Securities Commission of Malaysia (SC).
Documents show that the IPO involves up to 126 million shares, including the sale of up to 28.39 million existing shares and the public offering of up to 97.56 million new shares.
Among them, 23.66 million shares were issued to the public and 14.2 million shares were reserved for eligible group employees and directors to apply. Another 560,000 shares will be allotted to selected investors, while the remaining 59.15 million shares will be sold to Bumiputera investors approved by the Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry (MITI).
The company has three manufacturing plants in Sabah with an annual production capacity of 389 million litres of drinking water and 37 million litres of carbonated and fruit drinks. A new plant in Keningau is expected to be operational in the third quarter of 2024.
Life Water said it intends to use proceeds from the IPO to fund its capital expansion plans and working capital.
The expansion plan includes the purchase of a drinking water production line for its Sandakan Subuga Plant Two, the establishment of a second distribution center in Sandakan, and the expansion of existing plastic packaging facilities in Kota Kinabalu.
On the financial front, Life Water reported profit after tax (PAT) of RM20.62 million for FY2023, up from RM15.74 million in FY22. Its PAT for FY21 was RM17.66 million.
The company’s revenue improved steadily to RM159.6 million in FY2023 from RM121 million in FY2022 and RM104 million in FY2021.
MIDF is the main advisor, underwriter and placement agent for the IPO.
