However, it is believed that the issue of the licence comes with a main condition - ECM Libra's largest shareholder, Tan Sri Azman Hashim, is required to pare down his stake from 22.81% to 10% over three years.

Azman raised his interest in the company from 7.4% to the current level after acquiring the block of shares from Aroma Teraju Sdn Bhd, a vehicle of the Minister of Finance Inc, in late February this year.

Under the Banking and Financial Institutions Act, an individual is not permitted to hold more than 10% interest in a licensed institution, and in the case of a person other than an individual, no more than 20%.

With the licence in the bag, sources say co-founders Datuk Seri Kalimullah Hassan and Lim Kian Onn are likely to increase their existing stakes and go all out to pitch for major deals in corporate Malaysia. At present, Kalimullah has a 4.21% stake, while Lim has 9.2%.

An investment banking licence is crucial as it enables ECM Libra to enter the money market, accept deposits and widen its scope of services and products. At the moment, most of its revenue is derived from stockbroking activities.

Financially, ECM Libra appears to be in good shape. As of the nine months to October, revenue increased 74% to RM138.2mil, while net profit jumped 14-fold to RM70.5mil. The company is in a net cash position of RM407.7mil.

With these earnings, the stock is trading at an annualised price earnings ratio of 7.8 times. At its current price of 88.5 sen, the stock is trading at a discount to its net tangible assets per share of RM1.11.

It certainly looks like ECM Libra is set to make a big comeback after a rather trying year, especially for its founders. In 2006, the merger of ECM Libra Bhd and Avenue Capital Resources Bhd saw the creation of a new entity - one that did not involve Kalimullah, Lim and another ECM Libra founder, David Chua.

The deal drew a lot of attention and criticism. In August 2006, Khairy Jamaluddin, the son-in-law of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, sold his shares in ECM Libra after his interest in the company became a controversial matter.

Around the same time, Kalimullah, the ECM Libra chairman, reduced his 6.75% shareholding to 4.8% because he "was forced to take the step by the unwarranted focus on the company by politicians".

Chua exited the company. Although Lim stayed on as director and didn't sell down his stake in the company, he has taken a back seat in the group. At the time, it looked like the ECM Libra franchise created in 2002 had crumbled.

In recent months, things have started perking up. More and more, it looks as if the group is repositioning itself as a new player in the investment banking sector.

In April this year, Kalimullah and Lim returned to the helm, when the company announced that the former would be redesignated as executive chairman and CEO, while Lim would be the managing director. Key positions had also started to be filled up.

This included the appointments of T. Jeyaratnam, formerly of Aseambankers Bhd, as its deputy CEO and Stephen Weller - formerly of Southern Investment Bank and Citigroup - as its head of the equity capital market.