SC sees turnaround in corporate proposals

CORPORATE proposal activities in Malaysia's capital market were a bit slow last year compared to 2011 but it may turn around this year in the areas of equity, prospectus launches, takeovers and mergers, and property valuations.

In its annual report 2012, the Securities Commission (SC), which regulates and monitors Malaysia's money markets, received a total of 41 equity applications last year, down by 21 per cent compared to the 52 received in 2011.

Together with the nine applications brought forward from 2011, there were a total of 50 applications for consideration last year.

Thirty six applications were consi-dered, of which 33 were approved and three returned. Another three were withdrawn, leaving 11 that were carried forward to this year.

In the prospectus segment, 11 initial public offerings (IPOs) for the Main Market were approved last year, raising total proceeds of RM23.07 billion from the market.

Among the noteworthy IPOs approved in terms of market capita-lisation size were Felda Global Ventures Holdings Bhd, IHH Healthcare Bhd and Astro Holdings.

Last year, the SC received 60 new prospectuses for registration, including 29 abridged versions. Out of the 31 prospectuses received, 26 were in relation to IPOs, 19 for the Main Market and seven for the ACE Market.

As for the 29 abridged versions, 26 were from companies listed on the Main Market and three from companies listed on the ACE Market.

Together with the 17 prospectuses pending registration at the end of 2011, there were 77 for registration last year. Of these, 49 were registered and 10 were withdrawn/returned, which left 18 pending registrations at the end of last year.