Bursa Malaysia: Three Markets, Three Very Different Entry Prices

At a glance

	Main Market	ACE Market	LEAP Market
Minimum financial threshold	Yes — one of three tests	None	None
Who decides you are ready	Securities Commission	Sponsor + Bursa Malaysia	Approved adviser + Bursa Malaysia
Offering document	Prospectus	Prospectus	Information memorandum
Who can buy	General public	General public	Sophisticated investors only
Positioned for	Established corporations	Companies with growth prospects	Emerging companies and SMEs

Sources: SC Public Consultation Paper 4/2025; SC Equity Guidelines (R8-2026).

The one board with a number attached

Most people assume all three boards have a financial bar and that the bar simply gets lower as you go down. That is not how it works.

Only the Main Market has quantitative admission criteria. Under the Equity Guidelines revised on 28 May 2026 and effective 3 June 2026, an applicant whose core business is not an infrastructure project must satisfy either of the first two tests below; an infrastructure applicant must satisfy the third.

Route	What it requires
Profit test	Aggregate after-tax profit of at least RM30 million across the most recent three full financial years, and at least RM15 million in the most recent year, on audited statements
Market capitalisation test	Total market capitalisation of at least RM500 million based on the offer price and enlarged share capital on listing, plus operating revenue for at least the most recent full financial year
Infrastructure project corporation test	The right to build and operate a project with costs of at least RM500 million, under a concession or licence with at least 15 years remaining at listing

Two conditions apply on top of whichever route is used. Management must have been substantially the same for three full financial years (or since operations began, for the market capitalisation and infrastructure routes). And controlling shareholders face a six-month moratorium on selling their shares from the listing date.

The RM30 million and RM15 million figures are new. They replace RM20 million and RM6 million, thresholds the SC judged to be out of step with a market where the average size of a small-cap Main Market listing had roughly doubled since 2010.

ACE and LEAP: the sponsor is the gate

Neither the ACE Market nor the LEAP Market imposes minimum profit, revenue or market capitalisation requirements. That is deliberate, not an oversight.

Instead, a listing sponsor (ACE) or an approved adviser (LEAP) assesses whether the company is suitable to be listed, and stakes its own licence on that judgement. Bursa Malaysia has been the sole approving authority for ACE Market IPOs and prospectus registration since 1 January 2022.

The LEAP Market, launched in July 2017, goes further: it is restricted to sophisticated investors, and issuers publish an information memorandum rather than a full prospectus. The trade-off is cost and speed in exchange for a much smaller pool of buyers.

Both boards feed upward. A company can list on ACE and later transfer to the Main Market once it meets the entry criteria on the strength of its own business.

What the FBM KLCI actually measures

The FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI is the country’s headline benchmark: the 30 largest companies by full market capitalisation listed on the Main Market that meet the index eligibility rules. ACE Market companies are not eligible — they have their own index.

Two screens do the filtering. A company with a free float of 15% or below is excluded outright, and every security is tested for liquidity semi-annually using its monthly median daily trading volume.

Reviews run each June and December. A stock enters the index if it rises to 25th or above by full market value, and drops out if it falls to 36th or below — a deliberate buffer that stops the index churning on small price moves. At the June 2026 review, IOI Properties Group replaced Sime Darby, effective at the start of business on 22 June.

FTSE Russell and Bursa Malaysia consulted in March 2026 on expanding the index from 30 to 50 constituents, adding a 10% cap on any single company, and shrinking the FBM Mid 70 from 70 names to 50. Responses closed on 24 April 2026. A consultation is a proposal, not a decision — the 30-stock rule stands until FTSE Russell announces otherwise.

Common mistakes

Treating LEAP as a small IPO. It is not a public offering. If your funding plan assumes retail demand, LEAP in its current form does not provide it.

Reading “no financial threshold” as “no scrutiny”. On ACE and LEAP the sponsor’s due diligence replaces the numeric test. It is often more intrusive, not less.

Budgeting against the old profit test. Deals scoped before mid-2026 against RM20 million / RM6 million now need to clear RM30 million / RM15 million.

Assuming a Main Market listing means index inclusion. The FBM KLCI takes 30 names out of the whole Main Market, and free float and liquidity screens can disqualify a large company outright.

What’s next

If you are weighing an SME fundraise, compare the listing route against equity crowdfunding and P2P financing, which are regulated by the same Securities Commission but carry no listing obligations. Before any of it, get the capital structure right — see share capital in Malaysia and the public-company provisions of the Companies Act 2016.

Watch two live items: the outcome of the FTSE Russell index consultation, and the proposed LEAP Market enhancements announced by the SC and Bursa Malaysia on 18 May 2026, which would let retail investors into the LEAP Market subject to a total cap of RM250,000, with RM100,000 per issuer in the primary market and RM100,000 per broker in the secondary market. Both remain proposals as at 24 July 2026.