Move to KL

Setting up a Labuan company may be quite easy, but whether there is an active potential client base is questionable. The market is flooded here because it is relatively unregulated. The platform would need to be offshore as getting a banking or investment licence here is tough. So the Labuan route provides you with a sales office to feed into the platform and a work permit as a Director and business owner to be able to live in Malaysia.

thank you Gravitas for your quick response.

The idea would be to establish a Malasian subsidiary of a UK based Private Equity firm and to market the UK projects in Malaysia with local banks, asset managers, pension fund managers and if possible the government.  View the historical link between the UK and Malaysia I would presume there would be an appetite to invest in the UK.

How is the current situation for European fund managers seeking to raise capital from Malaysia?  Does it look prosperous?

With regards to regulation, I know that the Labuan regime is very light and of little significance (compared to Luxembourg for example).   Though, do local investors care about that ?    The UK Private Equity group also has a regulated investment fund in Luxembourg so investments could flow through there.

thanks
Vincent

I know of other companies who have tried to go this route and not succeeded because of the licence requirement in Malaysia. The Labuan company is just a vehicle and not the actual set up of the fund(s). Once a proposal is put forward there are many hoops to get through and most foreign companies fail, unless they are just marketing outlets for offshore (to Malaysia) arrangements.