Yesterday, the Malaysian Federal Court ruled on the momentous and landmark corporate law and mergers and acquisitions decision in the Apex Equity case.
The case attracted the attention of corporate boardrooms, the Malaysian Stock Exchange (Bursa Malaysia) and Bar Council Malaysia (acting as amicus curae).
We acted for a former executive director and won initially at the High Court (which decision was overturned at COA and now restored by the Federal Court).
I personally advised the director on corporate law and litigation strategies, and went through the ups and downs of the case with him through the years.
I never lost faith in the law, as the COA decision was based partly on an Indian case (which I analyzed and compared with the then Malaysian position while undergoing my Jindal Global Law School LLM studies) which has since been overturned in India.
Our JLPW litigation team led by partners Ganesh and Rajasurian (and counsel Rabindra S Nathan) were committed and dedicated in helping the client win the case at the Federal Court.
“The long-awaited ruling on the interpretation of Sections 85 and 223 of the Companies Act 2016 was delivered by the Federal Court on March 26, overturning the decision of the Court of Appeal (COA).
The law does not require the acquirer to first convene a general meeting to obtain its shareholders’ approval even before committing the vendor to the sale, as long as it is understood between the company and the proposed vendor or purchaser that the acquisition or disposal will not go through unless and until shareholders’ approval is obtained. The shareholders’ approval must be obtained before the actual transfer of the arrangement.“
I am the senior partner of Messrs Jeff Leong, Poon & Wong, Malaysia.
I am also serving with the Law Association For Asia And The Pacific (LAWASIA), the peak body for national bar associations and law societies in more than 40 jurisdictions in the Asia Pacific region as Chair of the Corporate, Securities & Investment Law and Co Chair of the Belt And Road Initiative Standing Committees.
I lead a Special Projects team, structure and run complex M&A deals, resolve critical problems faced by clients such as crisis management, regulatory investigations, shareholder fights and board tussles and advise founders, business owners and senior management on business transactions.
With numerous IPOs and M&A deals over 30 years, I am often consulted by clients in Shipping and Logistics, Technology and Digital Economy, Oil & Gas and other heavily regulated industries on complex, urgent and critical matters.
I have been included on Asia Business Law Journal’s A List of Malaysia’s Top 100 Lawyers and Legal 500’s Hall of Fame for Corporate and M&A for Malaysia.
I am an accredited Mediator of the Malaysian Mediation Centre, the International Commercial Mediation Centre For the Belt And Road Initiative, Benchmark Chambers International & Benchmark International Mediation Centre, Shenzhen Qianhai International Commercial Mediation Centre, CCPIT/CCOIC Hangzhou Mediation Centre and Hainan International Arbitration Court.
I founded JLPW in 1999 during the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis with 2 other founders. We were deep into corporate rescues and mergers of banks, insurance companies and stockbrokers to resuscitate the bleeding Malaysian economy, working on some of the major corporate rescues of the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis.
Affiliations with Deacons Graham & James 2001- 2012 and Dacheng (now Dentons China) 2012-2016 quickly followed. In 2012, we founded JLPW CROSSBORDER ASIA, a regional law firm network.
In JLPW, we developed the current due diligence system adopted and used by industry participants in capital markets transactions in 1999. I assisted the review of the 2020 Due Diligence Guide for Malaysia with investment bankers, accountants, capital market lawyers and other industry participants.
I currently lead our Japan Services Group, assisting Japanese companies venturing into Malaysia and South East Asia with market entry strategies, M&As and post merger integration advisory together with our Japanese speaking team.
I am also leading our China Services Group and regional JLPW Belt and Road Services Group assisting Chinese companies investing and undertaking Belt and Road projects in Malaysia and other ASEAN countries.
As leader, strategist, chief talent scout, builder and problem solver, I have initiated and developed various practice groups in JLPW and am now leading our Legal Tech initiatives to better support our clients in the new Digital Economy.
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