Bursa Malaysia Securities Berhad

On the court record

A stock-exchange operator whose matters show the enforcement of listing requirements on major transactions, the interaction of de-listing and liquidation, and committal to compel obedience to court orders.

Bursa Malaysia Securities Berhad, the stock-exchange operator, appears in the corpus in its regulatory and enforcement capacity, and its matters illuminate the exchange's powers over listed issuers and their officers. In a High Court matter the exchange applied in a dispute engaging the Main Market Listing Requirements, concerning a major disposal by a listed issuer and the need for shareholder approval by special resolution under Chapter 10 of the Listing Requirements — a matter of regulatory compliance by a listed corporation. In a Federal Court matter the exchange was the appellant in proceedings addressing, among other things, Rule 16.11(2) of the ACE Market Listing Requirements and compliance with the Listing Requirements: the scope of a liquidator's powers and duties under the Companies Act 2016, when the exchange should de-list a corporation, whether it could waive compliance with its own rules, and the role of a director after a liquidator is appointed, engaging sections 360 and 378 of the Capital Markets and Services Act 2007.

The exchange also appears in committal proceedings for non-compliance with a money judgment, brought under section 360 of the Capital Markets and Services Act against a bankrupt, where leave was required under section 8(1) of the Bankruptcy Act 1967. Those proceedings show the exchange enforcing compliance not only through listing rules but through the court's contempt jurisdiction.

For a reader, the appearances are a rare window into the litigation of a self-regulatory market operator: the enforcement of listing requirements on major transactions, the interaction of de-listing and liquidation, and the use of committal to compel obedience to court orders. The exchange and corporate parties are named as they appear on the record; the individual officers and directors are referred to by their procedural role only. The exchange's appearances are unusual in the corpus because it litigates not to vindicate a private commercial interest but to enforce a regulatory regime: its powers to require shareholder approval for major transactions, to de-list a non-compliant corporation, and to compel obedience through committal all serve the integrity of the market rather than a proprietary claim, which gives its matters a distinct public character.