KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 29): Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has called on Malaysia’s mid-tier listed companies to expand and become regional champions, saying too many promising businesses remain small for too long.

Anwar, who is also the finance minister, said Bursa Malaysia Bhd (KL:BURSA) as the market operator has a role in helping these companies take the next step, with their growth expected to create more quality jobs and give more Malaysians a stake in the country’s economic progress.

“Too many good companies stay small for far too long. Bursa has a role in helping them take that step forward,” he said at Bursa Malaysia’s 50th anniversary gala dinner on Thursday.

Malaysian companies must move up the value chain in semiconductors, advanced manufacturing and digital technology, while strengthening their ability to compete abroad, he added.

The call comes as geopolitical tensions reshape trade and investment, technological advances change how businesses operate, and the energy transition creates new demands for capital.

Anwar said confidence in the market must remain underpinned by sound institutions, fair rules and honest dealings between companies and investors.

“A good business should be able to raise capital on fair terms,” he said, adding that companies seeking investment must deal honestly with investors, while Malaysians who save and invest should be able to trust the institutions supporting the market.

Bursa Malaysia chairman Tan Sri Abdul Farid Alias added in his welcoming remarks that the exchange plays important responsibility to preserve market confidence as it balances its roles as a market operator, frontline regulator and listed company.

“Across these roles, successive generations have responded to the changing needs while protecting the trust on which the market depends,” he said. The capital market had helped finance much of the infrastructure and businesses underpinning daily life, including transport, electricity, water and buildings, he added.

These investments create jobs and support livelihoods, while allowing investors to participate in the growth of Malaysian companies, he said.

The anniversary marks the incorporation of the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange on Dec 14, 1976. The institution subsequently underwent demutualisation in 2004 as part of its evolution into Bursa Malaysia.

“We have inherited a proud history, and with it the responsibility to build on what previous generations have entrusted to us,” Farid said.