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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…