This article first appeared in The Edge Malaysia Weekly on January 20, 2025 - January 26, 2025

Apex Equity Holdings Bhd (KL:APEX), a niche stockbroking company, has had more than its fair share of boardroom battles over the last few years. Even though the founders of the company are no longer there, the simmering tensions among shareholders are evident.

The latest is a lawsuit filed by Apex Equity executive chairman Datuk Farhash Wafa Salvador against the company to compel it to replace the existing Memorandum and Articles of Association (M&A) in its entirety with a new constitution. This, he says, is to ensure that Apex Equity complies with Bursa Malaysia’s Main Market Listing Requirements.

According to the announcement by Apex Equity, the company has held seven shareholders’ meetings to adopt a new constitution but the resolution was defeated.

In his suit, Farhash stated that all necessary steps to appease the dissenting shareholders had been taken and yet the proposed resolution to adopt a new constitution was defeated. Hence, he is seeking an order to compel the company to change its M&A to a new constitution.

Apex Equity is not alien to its shareholders being at loggerheads. It has been going on since 2017, when founder Chan Guan Seng was at the helm. The late Chan was at odds with another faction led by the late Lim Siew Kim, who was his sister-in-law and one of the daughters of casino king the late Tan Sri Lim Goh Tong.

Based on the voting pattern at the shareholders’ meetings, the faction aligned with Lim controlled about 38%. Chan’s block of shares changed hands several times and is now held by several parties who are currently steering the company.

Replacing the M&A with a new constitution may sound like a trivial matter, but the lawsuit should shed more light on why there is opposition to the move.

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