Growing Singapore demand boosts Malaysian cross-border bus firm’s IPO
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
HI Mobility operates 155 Causeway Link buses on the Singapore-Johor route, which is around a quarter of its overall fleet.
ST PHOTO: TARYN NG
Follow topic:
KUALA LUMPUR - HI Mobility is betting on increased traffic with Singapore to drive growth as the Malaysian operator of Causeway Link buses started trading on March 28 after a rare listing by one of the country’s transport providers.
The company, which is the biggest cross-border bus operator in both countries, has raised RM116 million (S$35 million) in an initial public offering (IPO) that values the firm at US$137 million (S$183.7 million).
The stock opened on Bursa Malaysia at RM1.27, 4.1 per cent up from its IPO price of RM1.22, and closed up 9 per cent at RM1.33.
Chief executive officer Lim Chern Chuen has been seeing a change in the profile of the firm’s customers and strong growth in its cross-border bus services between Malaysia’s Johor state and Singapore over the last few years.
While bus services were traditionally used by Malaysians going to work in Singapore, more people are travelling in the other direction to Johor, following the creation of a special economic zone, Mr Lim said in an interview.
More than 300,000 people cross the border daily, making it one of the busiest land crossings in the world.
HI Mobility’s revenue rose 73 per cent to RM207.7 million in 2024 from the previous year, while gross profit more than doubled.
It operates 155 Causeway Link buses on the Singapore-Johor route – around a quarter of its overall fleet.
Nearly half its revenue in 2024 came from Singapore.
It also operates bus services in the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur and the states of Selangor and Melaka.
The company’s stock market debut is a rare success story in Malaysia’s public transport landscape, which is mostly dominated by closely held state-linked firms.
Mr Lim said HI Mobility’s success in gaining profitability is in part due to its pursuit of automation to increase efficiency, and that it is now also offering automation and technological solutions as a service to other operators.
“If we look at mobility as a whole, that is where the market becomes even bigger, beyond just the buses we operate,” he said.
Founded in 2002 as Causeway Link by Mr Lim’s father Lim Han Weng, the firm was the first Malaysian bus operator to win a cross-border service licence.
The elder Mr Lim also founded Johor-based logistics firm Yinson Holdings, which is now an energy infrastructure firm with a market value of US$1.4 billion.
Yinson is currently planning an IPO for its offshore floating production unit in the US.
HI Mobility’s IPO will make it the third-largest listing in Malaysia in 2025, where US$127 million has been raised so far – the most in South-east Asia.
Malaysia’s stock market was also the region’s top IPO destination, hosting over US$1.8 billion worth of IPOs. BLOOMBERG
