KUALA LUMPUR (March 27): The Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) received 20 equity applications in 2022, of which eight were for intial public offerings (IPOs), three were in relation to proposed acquisitions, while nine were for transfers to the Main Market, according to the SC’s Annual Report 2022.
The regulator said out of the 27 equity applications for consideration in 2022, 18 were considered, one was withdrawn, and one lapsed. Seven were carried forward to this year.
A total of 16 equity applications were approved, of which six were IPOs on the Main Market, with a total capitalisation of RM9.44 billion.
The amounts of funds raised from these IPOs was RM3.08 billion. The remaining two were proposed acquisitions, resulting in a significant change of business direction or policy, and eight were transfers of listings on the ACE Market to the Main Market.
Of 35 new listings in 2022, five were on the Main Market, followed by 25 on the ACE Market, and five on the LEAP Market, with a total market capitalisation of RM11.15 billion. Total funds raised from the new listings were RM3.49 billion.
The SC also registered 34 prospectuses, including 19 for IPOs, and 15 abridged prospectuses.
Corporate bonds, sukuk
The Malaysian corporate bond and sukuk market reported total issuances of RM153.32 billion in 2022, up 34.16% from RM114.28 billion a year ago.
In 2022, the SC received 62 lodgements under the Lodge and Launch (LOLA) Framework, and approved two applications for corporate bonds and sukuk. Ringgit-denominated corporate bonds and sukuk issues remained most of the proposals approved by/lodged with the SC, with a total nominal value of RM187.27 billion, of which 78.96% or RM147.87 billion were sukuk.
The total number of ringgit-denominated corporate bonds and sukuk approved by/lodged with the SC with tenures of one to seven years decreased by 19.05%, followed by a decrease of 37.50% for eight to 15 years.
There was also an 11.11% decrease in the total number of ringgit-denominated corporate bonds and sukuk with tenures of more than 15 years.
In 2022, a total of 45 ratings were assigned by credit rating agencies to ringgit-denominated corporate bonds and sukuk issues lodged with the SC, compared with 63 ratings assigned in 2021.
The number of unrated issues decreased by 27.27% as compared to 2021. There were two foreign currency-denominated corporate bonds and sukuk lodged with the SC in 2022.