Analysis of Public Listing Challenges for Reach Energy Berhad

This report delves into the challenges faced by Reach Energy Berhad, a Malaysian oil and gas exploration company, in its public listing journey. It provides a background of the company, highlighting its establishment, vision, and mission, as well as its acquisition of Palaeontol B.V. The report identifies key parties involved, including government bodies, Bursa Malaysia, the financial department, board of directors, and shareholders, and outlines the criteria for public listing. It discusses the benefits of public listing, such as increased capital and market visibility, while also addressing the challenges, including regulatory compliance and the need for industry expertise. The report further examines the impact of government policies, the role of Bursa Malaysia in facilitating securities trading, and the functions of the financial department in managing public issues. It concludes by emphasizing the importance of strategic planning and risk management in navigating the complexities of the public listing process for Reach Energy Berhad.

Running head: PUBLIC LISTING CHALLENGES
Public Listing Challenges
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Notes:

1PUBLIC LISTING CHALLENGES
Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
Background of the company......................................................................................................3
Parties involved..........................................................................................................................5
Government Bodies............................................................................................................5
Bursa Malaysia...................................................................................................................5
Financial Department.........................................................................................................6
Board of Directors..............................................................................................................6
Shareholders.......................................................................................................................7
Criteria of Listing.......................................................................................................................7
Benefits..................................................................................................................................8
Challenges................................................................................................................................11
Regulation............................................................................................................................11
Expertise...............................................................................................................................12
Conclusion................................................................................................................................16
REFERENCES.........................................................................................................................18

2PUBLIC LISTING CHALLENGES
Introduction
In accordance with the present changes in the General Election the government is
reviewing the ongoing oil and gas project in Malaysia so as to remove the disputes. Though
the price of the crude oil is very low the sectors remain important to the country as it
contributes only twenty to around thirty percent of the country’s gross profits. There are
around three thousand and five hundred oil factories in Malaysia which work both
domestically and internationally. The multiplying effect which is generating the Petroliam
National Bah or the PETRONAS, the national oil company in Malaysia. Reach Energy has
also witnessed a proper marginal growth in the oil production and reservation whereas the gas
production of the company continues to decline in the market (Awalludin, Hashim and
Nadhari 2015). The Malaysian government is trying to take over the water producing oil
fields in the area and is encouraging to invest in the Enhanced Oil Recovery or the EOR so
that the development of water depth oil fields can be found out. The company is finding out
few new oil reserves in the coast of the sea in the Northern Borneo which is between 200 to
1200 meters deep, but is very costly to extract the resources from that deep (Ruqaishi and
Bashir 2013)
Initial public offering or IPO which is more popularly known as the stock market
launch is a type of the offering by the public where the company shares sold off to the visitors
of the institution as well as the retail investors. An initial public offering is written by on or
than one investment bank of the company which also arranges the shares which will be listed
by the company itself. This process only happen when a private owned company is
transformed into a public owned company (Mansor, Alwi and Anwar 2013). The initial
public offerings are thus owned by the company which will raise the new equity investors in
the market which will enable an easy trading for the existing holders. It also shows how the

3PUBLIC LISTING CHALLENGES
future capital risers re becoming enterprises dealing in public. Research Energy Berhad is an
acquisition company for the gas and oil exploration in Malaysia. The company majorly
focusses in the development of hydrocarbon resource in the Asian Pacific Region. The
company acquires assets in various areas where it can perform the exploration and production
of the oil and gas development as well as the productivity activity. It has over 40 target
offshore points in five countries targeting the oil and gas production phrase (Oh,
Hasanuzzaman and Chua 2018)
The following paper will thoroughly discuss on the background of the company,
securities commission of Malaysia which might have a plenty of queries regarding the
submission of the Initial Public Offerings, so as to ensure a better growth in the near future. It
will also be discussed that why the company is facing difficulties in looking and selecting the
candidates as independent who have very less experience to the industry which is involved in
the company.
Background of the company
The Reach Energy logo was designed to emanate strength and brightness. The
Reach Energy was established in Malaysia which was under the Companies Act 1956 as a
private company on 7th February 2013 as Reach Energy. The company later on converted
itself to a public company on 2nd August 2013 and renamed it as Reach Energy Berhad.
Reach Energy Berhad is now the 4th biggest Special Purpose Acquisition Company (“SPAC”)
IPO Malaysia (Shafie, Masjuki and Andriyana 2013). It is an oil as well as gas production
and exploration company. The vision of Reach Energy is to be an independent Malaysian
based Gas and Oil Company and operating in both domestic and global regions. Reach
Energy in the year 2016 had acquired 60% of the equity interest in Palaeontol B.V. which is
owned by the Palaeontol Cooperative U.A. which is wholly owned by the MIE Corporation

4PUBLIC LISTING CHALLENGES
which was under the board of the stock exchange of the Hong Kong Limited. The transaction
which was implemented for the purchase was around USD 175.69 million. The company
owns an area of 850km2 in a southwestern region of the Republic of Kazakistan (Hossain,
Saidur and Fayaz 2015)
The mission of the company is growing to the upstream reserves in petroleum,
developing a strong technical base in the market, developing a strong value among the
shareholders, increasing more oil and gas productivity. Reach Energy was given a three year
time so that the can find out their qualifying assets under the criteria which was set by the
Securities Commission of Malaysia, that is the production fields which are in the Asian
Pacific regions. After scrutinizing more than fifty assets it has entered into condition of a
triple party condition where the sale as well as he purchasing agreement was proposed for the
Palaeontol COOP and MEIH who are the vendors for the proposed acquisition. The oil as
well as the gas industries provides along with the regional and the global prints are well seen
over here. If going forward with the report with the oil and gas industries in Malaysia then it
can be found out that the spots are bright in the vessels of marine, installations in the offshore
and few fabrications. Although the gas and the oil which are exposed to the exploration and
the developmental activities which offers the greatest leverage to the operations (Manan,
Baharuddin and Chang 2015) The global apex of the budget which was set for the upstream
of the activities which has been cut down substantially after the collapse of the price of oil
and gasses. Petronas has also signaled a very monotonous growth of demand for the majority
of the upstream for the services which are provided for the next three years. The demand for
the bright spots are increasing with the demand for the rise of the oil and gas exploration and
development analysis (Zaman et al. 2015).
Tenders which are new and has very recently contracted securely with Reach
Energy are mainly driven by the Pan Malaysia under a single umbrella contract, which is

5PUBLIC LISTING CHALLENGES
similar to the letter of the undertaking along with providing a specified budget and a proper
framework. Therefore a constant growth is expected by providing more offshore instalments
of the factory as well as fabrication. Nonetheless Reach Energy is also facing various
problems and difficulties in securing the funding debt so that they can undertake few new
projects (Barimani, Safari and Salam 2014). The company is also seeking various ways to
invest. The company is also seeking to invest more on the lower assets of the company so that
they can generate a good cash flow for the working capital. This can put the company to a
great score and they can buy more projects in the upcoming years to excel in the market.
Parties involved
Government Bodies
The Reach and Energy have large capital budgets which are counterparts of the IOC
department. They now are seeking cost effective way for funding their domestic resource and
are developing plans or are financing from the international assets. The partially privatized
national oil companies are now in a competition with the other oil companies on global
capital market. The level of the government ownership of the shares are in some extent to
control the operations on the capital markets (Zakaria, Purhanudin and Palanimally 2014).
Bursa Malaysia
The work of Bursa Malaysia is to provide the company, government as well as other
groups or parties to sell their securities in investing the public by offering a vast range of
products and services. The services mainly includes deposit service, trading, clearance,
services and products which are based on the derivatives and equities of the company. The
Bursa Malaysia also maintains an official website which contains information related to the
market shares of the public as well as the private companies. The website posts media
release, public offerings, as well as various investor’s education programs. The Bursa

6PUBLIC LISTING CHALLENGES
Malaysia also provides various other facilities and a strong and stable infrastructure for
raising the capital and shares investment, it regulates so as to ensure efficiency of the
company, and market orders which will encourage the confidence of the investors
(Subramaniam, Samuel and Mahenthiran 2015)
Financial Department
The functions of the Financial Department includes Public Issue of securities which is
one of the most popular way to issue security to the public. By an IPO the company raises
funds as because the securities are very much limited for the trading purposes. Right Issues is
a time when it is decided by the company to raise more and more capital for the shareholders
which are existing. If it is found that the shareholders are more in the market then it is
decided that they will be issued at a lesser price than which are still prevailing in the market
(Mustapha, Che and Ahmad 2013). The number of shares which are issued in the market is
calculate on a pro data basis which is known as the right issues. When a company issue
shares to some individual at a very low price which may or may not be related to the market
value is also known as preferential allotment. There the company can decide that on which
basis the allotment is not depended on which mechanism it is prepared.
It also maintains a secondary market which is a place where the investors are traded
with the existing shares, debentures, special bonds. The shares which are offered in the
primary market are often then traded on the secondary market. The trade is there carried out
between two parties that is the buyer and the seller with the stock exchanges which facilitate
them. But in this process the company which is issuing the shares is not involved either.
Board of Directors
The Board of Directors represents both the management as well as the shareholder’s
interest which consists the internal member as well as the external members. The board of

7PUBLIC LISTING CHALLENGES
directors are appointed to manage the daily affairs related to the shares by the shareholders. A
shares of the stock represent the interest of a corporation. The board of directors are entitled
to a portion of the company profits and shares. When the board of directors owns the shares
issued by the company, they are invested in the company from where they are benefitted hen
the company performs wells.
Shareholders
Kuala Lumpur is the only person whose name comes up in the record of the
depositors in the last record of the depositors which was in 2018. He was the only person who
was entitled to participate in Qualifying Acquisition shares republic as said by (Palanicham,
and Veeramani 2015). The special purpose acquisition company which also said that the
share purchases will only be under taken by Reach Energy BHD. In the present report if the
shareholders owns an amount of 1000 Reach and Energy shares then only the shareholder is
eligible to attend to speak and vote.
Criteria of Listing
There are several criteria based on which a company gains the stature of public listing
(Nakhaei et al. 2013). A privately owned company is said to be in transition to public listing
phase when they are supposedly offering shares to the public of the country (Hopp and
Dreher 2013). This phenomenon is known as initial public offering (Liu et al. 2014). It is a
process that privately listed companies follow in order to gain the stature of a public a public
company. Companies who gain a public stature can reap various financial benefits form the
government of the country which will be discussed below (Ogoun and Obara 2013).
However, the criteria and process through which the company has to go in order to gain
private stature should be determined. It is said that one of the most important reasons why a

8PUBLIC LISTING CHALLENGES
company might what to shift form the benefits of being privately owned to a company that is
in under the partial control of the government and the public of the company.
Benefits
Even though it means that the company would have to sacrifice full control over the
shares of the company, there are various benefits associated with the being listed as a public
limited company (Hart and Zingales 2017). Association with the Bursa stock exchange would
imply that the company would enjoy the following benefits;
1. Generating increased amount of revenue: The company is listed publicly which
implies that the activities of the company are influenced by the government and the
public of the country. The amount of control that the company have on their shares is
considerably lesser (Raynor and Ahmed 2013). However, they can generate increased
amount of revenue as public listing would enable the company to reach larger
audiences throughout the country (Hyder 2016).
2. Realisation of investment: People invest in a company to gain some revenue from the
same (Arvidson et al. 2013). The aim of the investors is to generate increased amount
of revenue than what they initially invested (Kowalski and Kelley 2013). Public
listing will enable the company to gain more shareholders (Johl, Kaur and Cooper
2015). Furthermore the number of shareholders and investors is likely to rise as a
result of the shift to public stature. The company will get increased exposure, thus
they can expect to gain more productivity and thus the company is deemed to be
trusted by the investors of the company and the shareholders.
3. Employee benefits: Attaining public stature implies that the company can make
amends for including employee benefit schemes (Clemens and Cutler 2014). The
employee who have been loyal to the company have been associated with the
company can be benefited from the move form a private to public stature (Jaja and

9PUBLIC LISTING CHALLENGES
Okpu 2013). It is said that, on being recognised as a public company, there are various
perks that the company are subject to. Exemption from various government taxes,
import and export duties and others imply that the company will have considerably
more amount of capital. This capital thus formulated can be used by the company to
formulate and invest into employee welfare funds such as employee welfare schemes
and provident funds.
4. Image: The image of the company can be considered as one of the most important
criteria under which the customer community recognise a company (Salam, Shawky
and Nahas 2013). The companies that are publicly listed generally have an image that
is subject to appraisal from the part of the government. Since the company is listed
publicly the public assume that there are factors that the company are performing
favourably and abiding by the regulations that have been put forward by the
government of the company. A favourable image boosts the goodwill of the company
and determines the reputation of the company (Adeniji et al. 2014). The same is
responsible for the perception that the consumer community have on the company.
As mentioned above there are various criteria that the company has to go through. The
company had to go through various appraisal form the Bursa Malaysia before gaining stature
of a public limited company. The company boasted the following attributes during the period
when it gained public stature;
1. Core business: The Company was in control of its core business operations. It
operates in providing energy sourced from natural resources such as gases and oil.
The company are not in a position to outsource their products, they are in in full
control of all their operations.
2. Favourable management: An organisation that is well managed is deemed to be
effective in satisfying the ever changing needs of the public. Both in criteria such as

10PUBLIC LISTING CHALLENGES
qualifications and experience a well-oiled management helps the company in gaining
competitive advantage.
3. Interest: The Company was not involved in situation that was characterised by
conflicting interests. Neither were the company involved in situation that hindered the
relation with the customers or the employees. The absence of any sort of conflicting
situations makes the company suitable for attaining the stature of a public company.
4. Prospect: The Company has performed favourably over the span of its existence.
They have been successful in showcasing considerable growth both in term of equity
and goodwill. This lead to satisfaction from the part of the consumer community.
Furthermore, the company occupies a major chunk of market share of the Malaysian
industry
5. Financial position: The Company has a favourable financial position in the market
and it is due to the industry that the company are operating in. They have established
their plants in Kazakhstan which is a country that has various oil and natural gas
reserves. Furthermore they are one of the few companies offering such services in the
Malaysian market and thus have been well received by the community. Oil and
natural gases form the base on which vehicles and various industries operate. Thus,
the reliance on the company is massive. This is the justification behind the financial
position of the company.
6. Corporate governance: The managerial divisions within the company have functioned
efficiently over the past years and thus have been able to satisfy the demands of the
stakeholders. Gaining public stature would imply that they would be able to satisfy
the demands and need of various other investors and customers. Favourable
performance from the part of the company’s management have ensured that all the
stakeholders associated to the organisation are gaining considerable benefits and

11PUBLIC LISTING CHALLENGES
satisfaction form the company. Good corporate governance helps the company to earn
public stature fairly easily and same is the case of Reach Energy Berhad.
Challenges
Regulation
The securities commission is a regulatory body of Malaysia who are associated with
regulating the functioning and operations of the equity or capital markets of Malaysia
(Muhamed et al. 2014). The regulatory body offers advice to the companies in order to the
operations in the capital markets. The main motive behind the formulation of the body is to
protect the interest of the customer community. The regulatory body advices the investors
and helps them avoid companies that are unlikely to help them generate favourable returns.
The motive of the company has to be directly aligned to the interest of the investors and the
regulation that has been presented by the securities commission. In order to protect the rights
of the customers, the company ensures that it has favourable policies to meet and are
perfectly aligned to the regulation that have been presented by the regulatory body. Following
are the queries that were submitted by the securities commission of Malaysia in in response
to the initial public offering prospectus that was presented to the regulatory body by the
company.
1. Alignment to the every investor: The body put forward a query regarding the initial
public offering of the company. The Company was previously a privately owned
company. The price of the shares were predetermined and involved negligible or no
interest realisation from the part of the consumer community. Publicising the
company will imply that there would have to be a degree of alignment that the
company will have to establish with the needs and affordability of the customer
community. The customer and investor community is comprised of people belonging