KUALA LUMPUR (April 30): Bursa Malaysia Bhd (KL:BURSA) said on Wednesday that it is expanding its research incentive scheme to also cover private companies, to boost the profile of select firms and promote better price discovery.

The scheme, now known as Bursa Research Incentive Scheme Plus, or Bursa Rise+, will include pre-initial public offering (pre-IPO) firms en route to listing, Bursa said in a statement. The two-year initiative covers 60 listed companies and 40 private companies or pre-IPO firms each year, it said.

“Through its comprehensive research coverage, Bursa Rise+ aims to raise the profile and visibility of Malaysian companies among investors, thereby facilitating their fundraising efforts throughout their lifecycle,” said Bursa chief executive officer Datuk Fad’l Mohamed.

The earlier Bursa Rise scheme, implemented from March 2022 to December 2024, covered 60 public-listed companies (PLCs). In 2024, the average velocity — a measure of how active a stock is traded — of the participating firms was 9.2% higher than that of the overall market, according to Bursa’s data.

Further, more than two-thirds of the participating companies also continued to receive research coverage, even after the initiative concluded last year.

“This offers investors continuous and valuable insights into these previously under-researched PLCs, leading to better appreciation of their fundamentals,” Bursa said.

Bursa Rise+ is supported by the Capital Market Development Fund, an independent statutory trust fund set up in 2004 to promote and develop the Malaysian capital market.