KUALA LUMPUR: There is no default of any government-linked Islamic bond issuance coming into 2022, according to industry experts.

Refuting rumours of a government-linked sukuk having been defaulted entering the new year, RAM Ratings Services Bhd said: "Our chief rating officer Siew Suet Ming has confirmed that, to the best of our knowledge, there has been no government-linked companies defaulting on their sukuk or bonds as mentioned in your question,"  a RAM spokesperson told the New Straits Times today.

"You may refer to the FAST system for recent announcements on defaults on bond and sukuk," she said, referring to Bank Negara Malaysia's Fully Automated System for Issuing/Tendering (FAST) online system.

Malaysian Rating Corp Bhd also confirmed that there was no government-linked sukuk having gone bust.

A portal on Tuesday reported that a government-linked sukuk had highly likely gone default and this could be the first government-linked Islamic bond to have gone default since the 1997/1998 Asian ifnancial crisis.

"First trading day of 2022 and a Malaysian sukuk paper goes default. What does that tell investors? This will affect Malaysia's ratings, as foreign investors will start questioning the Malaysian government's actions and sincerity," the Malaysia Sentinel quoted a source as saying.

While there was indeed no government-linked bond issuance being in default, checks by the NST found out that there was a sukuk by a highway concessionaire that had been declared a default by its bondholders in the new year.

The bondholders of privately-owned Mex II Sdn Bhd's RM1.3 billion sukuk declared a default immediately after its issuer failed to remit payment on the due date of Dec 31 last year.

According to a posting on fsmone.com.my, investors holding at least 75 per cent of the nominal value of the RM1.3 billion sukuk had rejected the issuer's request for a further deferment of the sukuk principal and profit obligations due on Dec 31 2021 to March 31 2022.

The bondholders also rejected the restructuring proposal by the issuer to restructure the sukuk and raise additional funding to complete the construction of the highway through the issuance of a new sukuk.

Sukuk holders also approved the appointment of Datuk Stephen Duar Tuan Kiat of Ernst & Young Advisory Services Sdn Bhd to act as the receiver of Mex II.

Mex II is undertaking the proposed estimated 18km Putrajaya-KLIA Highway and is owned by diversified group Maju Holdings Sdn Bhd, which is reportedly controlled by Tan Sri Abu Sahid Mohamed.

Mex II is intended to be a three-lane dual carriageway that will start at Maju Expressway's (MEX) Putrajaya interchange and merge onto the existing KLIA highway, according to Maju Holdings' website.

Besides MEX II, Maju Holdings also owns Maju Expressway Sdn Bhd, which operates the 26km MEX linking Putrajaya and Cyberjaya with Kuala Lumpur as a highway concession company, and is responsible for the construction, maintenance, management and operation of the highway.