KUALA LUMPUR (July 8): Kim Hin Joo (Malaysia) Bhd, which retails the Mothercare and Early Learning Centre brands in Malaysia, made its debut today on the ACE Market of Bursa Malaysia at a 4 sen discount over its initial public offering (IPO) price of 43 sen a share.

At 10.30am, Kim Hin Joo was trading at 37 sen per share after 22.35 million shares were traded, making the counter one of the top 10 most active stocks on Bursa this morning.

Kim Hin Joo's IPO of 19 million shares to the Malaysian public was oversubscribed by 7.67 times. Through the IPO, Kim Hin Joo has managed to raise total gross proceeds of RM32.68 million from its public issue, approximately 61.2% of which will be used for business expansion and capital expenditure (capex).

On the other hand, a further 27.2% of the proceeds will be used for working capital and the balance 11.6% will be used to defray fees and expenses for the IPO.

At the listing ceremony today, Kim Hin Joo chairman Pang Kim Hin said the group intends to open four to five new Mothercare outlets within three years of listing, two of which will be opened in the third quarter of 2019.

Besides that, he said Kim Hin Joo will also be expanding its toy range with the opening of UK-headquartered The Entertainer toy outlets, as well as revamping its e-commerce platform, which hosts the operations of the company's online store.

"A wider range of brands and products will increase our product portfolio and enable us to secure more customers, leading to a wider distribution network," Pang said.