PETALING JAYA: Billionaire tycoon Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar Al-Bukhary will retain control of his port business as he floats MMC Port Holdings Bhd on the Main Market – in what could be one of the largest initial public offerings (IPOs) in more than a decade.

MMC Port will not receive any proceeds via the IPO as the company said it “does not require additional equity funding”.

The listing will only involve an offer of shares by its sole selling shareholder, MMC Corp Bhd, which in turn is wholly owned by Syed Mokhtar.

Last week, Bloomberg reported that MMC Port could seek to raise about US$2bil (RM8.5bil) in a share sale as soon as September.

Quoting sources, the newswire said the planned listing could value the company at as much as US$7bil.

MMC Port operates ports across Peninsular Malaysia, namely Port of Tanjung Pelepas and Johor Port in Johor, Northport in Selangor, Penang Port in Penang, Tanjung Bruas Port in Melaka and Andaman Port in Kedah.

It also operates a solid product jetty terminal in Johor, ship-to-ship transfer services in the Port of Yan in Kedah, and cruise terminals in Penang, Port Klang and Langkawi.

With the IPO of MMC Port, Syed Mokhtar’s equity interest will reduce from 100% to either 65.5% or 70%, depending on the exercise of the over-allotment option.

In a draft prospectus filed yesterday, MMC Port is proposing an IPO of up to 4.27 billion offer shares, representing up to 30% of its issued shares.

The IPO comprises an institutional offering of up to 3.99 billion shares to Malaysian and foreign institutional and selected investors.

A retail offering of 286.1 million shares will be allocated to eligible directors, key senior management, as well as the Malaysian public.

“Our board is of the view that our company presently does not require additional equity funding for our business,” it said, adding that gross proceeds from the IPO would accrue entirely to the selling shareholder, MMC Corp.

“The estimated fees and expenses for our IPO and listing are to be borne by us,” it added.

For the financial year ended Dec 31, 2024, MMC Port posted a net profit of RM761.1mil on the back of RM4.36bil in revenue.

Of this, RM4.03bil was derived from port and terminal operations.

MMC Port declared and paid an interim dividend of RM30mil for the financial year ending Dec 31, 2025 (FY25) in March 2025.

“We further intend to declare a dividend of up to RM255mil for FY25 in July 2025,” it added.