
KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 24): Zetrix AI Bhd’s (KL:ZETRIX) managing director Wong Thean Soon’s stake has fallen to insignificant levels of 1.84% currently from almost 30% a few weeks earlier, as a result of force selling by financial institutions he had pledged his shares to.
Until today, the cause of the selldown of Zetrix and Wong’s shares has not been explained.
Today, the largest shareholders of Zetrix AI are the Social Security Organisation or Socso with 216 million shares or 2.72%, followed by the World Bank’s private sector arm, the International Finance Corp, with 199.56 million shares or 2.51%, which leaves the company rudderless without any shareholder driving it.
In a meeting, Wong was clearly dishevelled, ill at ease, not answering his phone as it buzzed, obviously under pressure.
Just on Friday, the company’s former executive chairman Datuk Dr Norraesah Mohamad stepped down, opting for a non-executive position, while another director, Datuk Seri Mohd Mokhtar Mohd Shariff, stepped down earlier this month, seemingly leaving Wong to handle the trying times alone.
Zetrix AI’s market capitalisation at RM592.3 million at its close on Friday was a far cry from its heyday in 2018 prior to the 14th general election.
Zetrix AI’s failure to remit RM314 million in collections from May to Sept this year to the Road Transport Department has resulted it being suspended from the task. Zetrix AI and HeiTech Padu entered into an agreement in April 2024 to explore the deployment of blockchain technology in the National Integrated Immigration System or NIISe project. However, the proposed collaboration did not materialise; the agreement lapsed in April 2025 and both parties agreed not to extend the agreement.
What is left in Zetrix AI is its blockchain business, but there are doubts as to how lucrative the business is, or whether Zetrix AI can keep pumping money into the capex-intensive business.
For Zetrix AI, raising funds seems like a pipe dream, as financial institutions are likely to shun the company, and Wong meanwhile grapples with RM2 billion in sukuk, where a key covenant — that he remains the single largest shareholder — has been broken.
Zetrix AI IPO-ed in January 2007, went on to become a darling of Bursa Malaysia, but is now on the verge of falling into the cash-strapped Practice Note 17 category. Is this the end of the road for Wong and Zetrix AI?
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