This article first appeared in The Edge Malaysia Weekly on October 12, 2026 - October 18, 2026
FIXED-income funds, particularly those managed by subsidiaries of Amanah Raya Bhd, may bear the brunt of the meltdown in Zetrix AI Bhd’s (KL:ZETRIX) shares.
Zetrix AI, which has lost a market capitalisation of RM5 billion in the last one month as the shares of its major shareholder Wong Thean Soon saw a selldown, has a RM2 billion Islamic bond programme that it launched in November 2022.
In the middle of last year, the first issuance of RM1 billion was upsized to RM2 billion. The bonds have a maturity of three years and were issued in tranches.
Among the biggest holders of the bonds are funds managed by a subsidiary of Amanah Raya Malaysia, an entity under the purview of the Ministry of Finance.
According to reports, a substantial amount of Zetrix AI’s Islamic debt paper is held by funds under AmanahRaya Investment Management Sdn Bhd (ARIM). The funds are namely, AmanahRaya Syariah Trust Fund, AmanahRaya Syariah Income Fund and AmanahRaya Unit Trust Fund.
Many other fixed-income funds, which are largely backed by banks and investment banks, also have exposure to Zetrix AI’s bonds. However, on average, their exposure is less than RM10 million.
When contacted, ARIM confirmed its exposure to Zetrix AI’s bonds. It said that the combined holdings of the three funds represented less than 30% of Zetrix AI’s bonds.
Considering Zetrix AI’s total Islamic debt of RM2 billion, a sum of less than 30% would mean that the exposure of the fixed-income funds under ARIM is easily more than RM500 million but less than RM600 million.
“As part of its investment management responsibilities, ARIM continues to manage and oversee its investment portfolios in accordance with the respective funds’ investment mandates, established governance framework and applicable regulatory requirements, with due consideration for the interests of unitholders,” ARIM said in written replies to questions from The Edge.
Based on information in the fixed-income fund financial reports, a big chunk of Zetrix AI’s bonds is held by AmanahRaya Syariah Trust Fund (about RM190 million), followed by AmanahRaya Syariah Income Fund (about RM92 million).
Zetrix AI had raised the Islamic debt to fund its technology developments related to blockchain and AI-related products and also to refinance existing debt paper.
According to data from Bond SuperMart, the yields of Zetrix AI’s debt paper have risen in the last six weeks.
For instance, a tranche of RM215 million that is up for redemption in March next year is trading at a bid yield to maturity of 5.97% compared to 5.42% six months ago.
Zetrix AI had issued the paper in March 2024 with an annual coupon of 5.8%. Usually, as the debt paper nears maturity, the yield gets closer to the coupon rate.
But in the case of Zetrix AI’s debt paper, the yield has been rising above the coupon rate, indicating higher selling pressure on the bonds.
Zetrix AI had issued the Islamic debt paper with short-term tenures of up to three years. The paper that mature in August 2027 and beyond are fetching a yield of more than 6%.
The underlying collateral for the bonds is not clear.
“As these matters concern the issuer’s contractual obligations and funding arrangements, the issuer is best placed to provide specific clarification. As part of its ongoing investment oversight, ARIM maintains regular communication with the issuer and the sukuk trustee while working closely with the respective funds’ trustees in overseeing the investments and protecting the interests of unitholders,” says ARIM.
Zetrix AI’s biggest assets are its technology products, namely the blockchain solutions and AI-related products.
According to a MARC rating analysis in 2025, Zetrix AI had achieved strong revenue growth from its blockchain platform since its launch in late 2023. The rating agency stated that since the launch, Zetrix had recorded about 5.2 million transactions involving more than 750,000 accounts.
MARC said that one of the financial covenants was that the issuer would need to maintain a finance-to-equity (FE) ratio not exceeding one time throughout the tenure of the programme. Effectively, this means that the borrowings should not exceed Zetrix AI’s shareholder capital.
An important non-financial covenant was that at all times, the issuer — Zetrix AI — had to ensure that Wong did not sell, transfer or otherwise dispose of his shares in the issuer resulting in him ceasing to be, either directly or indirectly, the single largest shareholder, without the consent of the bondholders.
The reason for the bondholders to tie Wong’s equity to the debt paper is easy to fathom, considering that he is the single most important driver of the company’s business.
However, Wong’s equity interest in Zetrix AI has dropped to less than 10% in the last three weeks. Although he is still the single largest shareholder, his reduced overall equity interest in the company will have implications for the bondholders. Should another individual or party emerge as the single largest shareholder amid the selldown in Zetrix AI’s shares, it could potentially lead to a default.
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