
The Malaysian Lawyer
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The Malaysian Lawyer is a collaborative blog by two lawyers, Lee Shih & Marcus van Geyzel. We set out updates on certain areas of Malaysian law. Key topics covered are company law, corporate rescue, insolvency, judicial management, restructuring, and more.
The Malaysian Lawyer
2M ago
This is the 7th edition of our annual Largest Law Firms in Malaysia series. We total the number of lawyers from the Malaysian Bar Legal Directory. This is as at 7 December 2024. The law firms will include the numbers…
The post Largest Law Firms in Malaysia 2024 appeared first on The Malaysian Lawyer ..read more
The Malaysian Lawyer
7M ago
Financially-distressed public listed company, Sarawak Cable Berhad, is placed under interim judicial management. Its former lawyers obtained an ex parte order to appoint an interim judicial manager over the company.
With the amendments to the Companies Act 2016, this is the first instance of a judicial management application being applied to a listed company.
I have had a read of the judicial management court papers and also read the various Bursa announcements to piece together the following chronology.
Background Facts
Sarawak Cable is a listed company on the Main Board of Bursa Malaysia. I ..read more
The Malaysian Lawyer
7M ago
There is currently uncertainty on determining ultimate effective control in the context of a beneficial owner of a company.
Companies, directors and the beneficial owners of companies have until the extended deadline of 30 September 2024 to lodge accurate beneficial ownership information with the Companies Commission of Malaysia. I examine these uncertainties ahead of the lodgment deadline.
The New Provisions on Beneficial Ownership of Companies
The Companies (Amendment) Act 2024 came into force on 1 April 2024 and introduced new provisions on the beneficial ownership of companies.
Under sect ..read more
The Malaysian Lawyer
10M ago
The Companies (Amendment) Act 2024 came into force on 1 April 2024. With the amendments, we see a strengthening of the restructuring and corporate rescue laws of Malaysia.
Among the different corporate rescue tools, schemes of arrangement had already been the most-used mechanism in Malaysia. The scheme of arrangement allowed for the Court to grant moratorium protection known as the restraining order.
Here, I analyse the changes and challenges relating to the restraining order arising from the new amendments to the Companies Act 2016 (CA 2016).
The Three Phases of the Restraining Order (R ..read more
The Malaysian Lawyer
1y ago
The Malaysian Lawyer continues with its annual listing of the largest law firms in Malaysia for the year 2023.
The statistics are as at 18 December 2023 and where the law firm is the aggregate of the number of lawyers in all its branches.
The Year 2023 In Review
The Stability and Growth of the Larger Law Firms
Overall, we continue to see stable numbers at the largest law firms.
For several years in a row, the three largest law firms in Malaysia continue to be Zaid Ibrahim & Co (in association with KPMG Law), Shearn Delamore & Co, and Skrine.
The rankings and numbers in the list of lar ..read more
The Malaysian Lawyer
1y ago
On 16 November 2023, the Court of Appeal in Oren Venture Sdn Bhd v Small Medium Enterprise Development Bank Malaysia Berhad (Court of Appeal Civil Appeal No. W-02(IM)(MUA)-587-04/2022) upheld the High Court decision (reported at [2022] 12 MLJ 247 and where I had written about it here).
Set out below is the extract from the Court of Appeal cause list website and with the Court setting out the brief grounds of decision (in the Malay language only). The full written grounds of decision do not appear available yet. I may write a fuller update once I have read the written grounds.
Brief ..read more
The Malaysian Lawyer
1y ago
The Companies Amendment Bill 2023 provides enhancements to the beneficial ownership of companies framework and will usher in stronger statutory footing to enforce beneficial ownership reporting.
Current Law
Section 2 of the Companies Act 2016 (CA 2016) only defines ‘beneficial owner’ as ‘the ultimate owner of the shares and does not include a nominee of any description’. Information on the beneficial ownership of shares will be disclosed under section 56 of the CA 2016.
The current beneficial ownership reporting regime is also governed by the Companies Commission of Malaysia’s Guideline for t ..read more
The Malaysian Lawyer
1y ago
Malaysia’s Companies Amendment Bill 2023 has been tabled before Parliament’s House of Representatives (see Hansard for 10 October 2023). There will be a fuller Parliamentary debate towards the end of November 2023.
This article focuses on the 9 key restructuring and corporate rescue amendments.
All references below will be to the existing and proposed new sections in the Companies Act 2016 as referred to in the Companies Amendment Bill 2023.
#1: Wider Restraining Order
The restraining order is often critical in ensuring a moratorium on legal proceedings against the scheme company applying for ..read more
The Malaysian Lawyer
1y ago
The Federal Court in MDSA Resources Sdn Bhd v Adrian Sia Koon Leng has ruled on the issue of the votes of related-party creditors in a scheme of arrangement. This has an impact on the classification of related-party creditors for schemes of arrangement in Malaysia.
With the Federal Court’s 2-1 split decision, I share the majority judgment and the dissenting minority judgment.
Summary of the Decision and Significance
Majority Grounds by: Nordin Hassan FCJ
The scheme company, MDSA Resources Sdn Bhd (MDSA), had undertaken a scheme of arrangement to restructure its debts of more than RM370 ..read more
The Malaysian Lawyer
1y ago
The Malaysia Insolvency Conference 2023 was held on 21 June 2023 and it made a return to a physical setting after 3 years. We saw a record turnout of attendees from the restructuring and insolvency community. I spoke at a panel session titled ‘Landmark Cases: Sharing on Insolvency and Restructuring’ and spoke with fellow insolvency specialists.
I set out a selection of 6 key recent trends we discussed and prepared for the panel discussion. I have also supplemented some of the legal points with additional research I made.
#1: Detailed Statement of Proposal and Proposed Judicial Ma ..read more