Equity Ownership and Firm Performance in Malaysia

This study investigates the relationship between ownership structure and company performance of public listed companies in Malaysia. The ownership is divided into two categories; managerial ownership and institutional ownership. Panel data of Malaysian public listed companies were examined. The results showed that managerial ownership had negative and significant relationship with ROA and Tobin’s Q. In contrast, institutional ownership showed positive and significant relationship with ROA and Tobin’s Q. As a conclusion, the involvement of institutional investors in monitoring and controlling activities has the potential to reduce agency cost and as a result, the company performance increased. The finding provides useful insight in formulating new policy in relation to equity ownership, particularly in Malaysia.