Malaysia's booming initial public offering market has been the toast of Asia's bankers this year. Some investors, though, haven't fared so well.

The streak of Malaysian listings has been impressive, especially because of weak equity issuance elsewhere. The Kuala Lumpur exchange has handled around $7.5bn of new listings this year, fourth in the world and ahead of Asia's previous IPO darling Hong Kong with $6.3bn, according to Dealogic.