Malaysian Billionaire Syed Mokhtar AlBukhary’s MMC Ports Gets IPO Approval

The proposed IPO of MMC Ports—Malaysia’s biggest port operator controlled by billionaire Syed Mokhtar AlBukhary—has been approved by the Securities Commission Malaysia for listing on the country’s bourse.

The company will offer up to 4.2 billion held by existing shareholders, equivalent to a 30% stake, according to its preliminary IPO prospectus. Bulk of the shares will be offered to institutional investors.

While the company hasn’t disclosed the pricing and timeline for the IPO, Bloomberg reported in June that MMC Ports will raise about $2 billion from the maiden share sale that will value the company at $7 billion. It could be the country’s biggest IPO in more than a decade.

After the IPO, MMC Corp will keep a 70% stake. Since no new shares will be issued, the company will not receive any proceeds from the offering. MMC said it does not need additional equity funding to grow its business.

Port of Tanjong Pelepas—which is run by a joint venture between MMC Ports and Netherlands-based APM Terminals (part of shipping giant A.P. Moller-Maersk)—handled record cargo container throughput of more than 12 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) in 2024, accounting for about 65% of the 18.5 million TEUs that passed through MMC five terminals across the country.

Bolstered by growing intra-Asian trade, MMC Ports’ revenue increased 11% to 4.4 billion ringgit in 2024. Still, the company’s transhipment volume is still dwarfed by rival PSA Corp, whose flagship Singapore terminal handled over 40 million TEUs last year.

“Our ports are strategically located in close proximity to the main shipping route along the Strait of Malacca, serving as important transshipment hubs in Southeast Asia,” MMC Ports said in the prospectus. “This location along one of the world’s busiest shipping routes, combined with our diversified cargo handling capabilities, positions us as Southeast Asia’s key gateway to global trade, with connectivity to Intra-Asia, transpacific, and Asia-Europe routes.”

To support future growth, MMC Ports plans to increase its annual cargo container throughput to 26.9 TEUs by 2029 from 24 million TEUs currently. “This growth in capacity can enable us to continue to gain market share amidst the wave of manufacturing regionalisation, re-shoring and global supply chain reorganisation,” MMC Ports said.

With an estimated net worth of $2.4 billion, Syed Mokhtar AlBukhary is one of the wealthiest in Malaysia. Most of his wealth comes from his stakes in MMC Corp. and in automotive company DRB-HICOM. MMC Corp, which he took private in 2021, also operates cruise terminals in Kuala Lumpur, Langkawi and Penang as well as the Senai International Airport in the southern Malaysian state of Johor.