Homegrown ZICO Group awarded capital market licence

KUCHING: Malaysian homegrown professional services specialist the ZICO Group, which has built up a network of offices in the Asean region, said that its subsidiary ZICO Capital Sdn Bhd (ZICap Malaysia) has received from the Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) a Capital Markets Services (CMS) Licence permitting it to offer capital market advisory services.

ZICap Malaysia, a subsidiary of ZICO Holdings Inc, a multi-disciplinary professional services firm listed on the Singapore Exchange, can now offer services in regulated capital market activities such as advisory for initial public offerings, secondary fund-raising and take-overs and mergers as well as restructuring of companies listed on Bursa Malaysia.

It is headed by chief executive officer Aun Siew Kuan, who has more than 20 years of extensive experience in the corporate finance and investment banking sector, working with various financial institutions, and Director Saifuddin Abu Bakar, who is particularly strong in Capital Markets and implementation of Corporate Finance and Debt transactions.

Collectively, they have a combined experience of over 45 years in audit, corporate finance and investment banking.

“Our strength extends to structuring and raising funding in the form of Bonds and Sukuk (Islamic bonds) as well as advising on project financing. We focus on private and public-listed companies, ranging from SMEs to large enterprises,” said Aun in a statement yesterday.

ZICO Group’s managing director Chew Seng Kok said they were honoured by the confidence that Malaysian authorities has placed on ZICap Malaysia which will seek to offer differentiated value to the Malaysian market by leveraging on ZICO’s network within Asean.

“This is a regional market of over 600 million people which is experiencing strong growth in the services sector including crossborder business transactions.”

“The licence underscores the commitment of the ZICO Group to Malaysia’s services sector at a time when more and more local companies are starting to regionalise and seek capital market options to fund their expansion.

“The timing is especially significant as this licence is being awarded during the 30th anniversary of the ZICO Group even as ASEAN marks its 50th year of existence,” he added.

Begun as Zaid Ibrahim & Co in 1987, it was the first Malaysian law firm to expand out of the country and began its regional expansion. It has 17 offices in all 10 Aseanmember countries.