This article first appeared in The Edge Malaysia Weekly on December 29, 2025 - January 4, 2026

NexG Bhd’s (KL:NEXG) streak of government contract wins has stunned investors. It secured four contracts that are worth slightly more than RM2.5 billion within two months.

Not only that, investors might also find the company’s corporate exercises mind-boggling. Formerly known as Datasonic Group Bhd, NexG also saw the emergence of new shareholders and changes to its board members.

In late August, NexG secured a six-year contract worth RM1.73 billion from the Ministry of Home Affairs to supply Malaysian passports from June 1, 2026 until May 31, 2032. NexG had been given six-month extensions for its initial contract to supply Malaysian passport booklets between 2021 and June 2025.

In October, the company was granted three additional public contracts, including a RM732.72 million deal to supply national identity cards.

With these new contracts in hand, NexG’s earnings are secure for the next five years, at least.

News of the RM1.73 billion contract saw an upward swing in its share price, which had fallen off a cliff following the announcement of its purchase of shares and warrants in Classita Holdings Bhd.

However, the upward momentum was not sustainable, although the new public contracts are expected to provide the company with steady earnings and cash flow. NexG’s share price, indeed, has drifted lower since August.

On Aug 8, three weeks before it was granted the passport contract, NexG announced that it had spent RM76.78 million in cash to acquire a 32.61% stake and 414.3 million units of warrants in Classita. This includes one block of 402.26 million shares, or 32.61%,from Hong Seng Consolidated Bhd (KL:HONGSENG) for RM60.31 million cash or 15 sen apiece.

The transaction price was an 87.5% premium over the market price of eight sen. The share purchase sent NexG’s share price spiralling down by more than 30%.

This was one in a series of mind-boggling investments NexG has made over the last two years.

In November 2024, it acquired 51% equity interest in Innov8tif Holdings Sdn Bhd from Revenue Group Bhd (KL:REVENUE) for RM40 million cash. Four months later, it acquired 175 million shares, or a 7.58% stake, in MMAG Holdings Bhd (KL:MMAG) for RM70 million cash.

The three deals that were transacted within a span of 10 months cost NexG roughly a total of RM186.8 million cash. The acquisition spree enabled Hong Seng and Revenue Group to unlock their investments.

NexG’s board of directors explained that the acquisition of Innov8tif was integral to its MyNasional private digital ID platform. Innov8tif was later renamed MyNasional eKYC Holdings Sdn Bhd.

MyNasional is a platform that unifies biometric electronic know-your-customer (eKYC) for secure identity, artificial intelligence (AI) and data intelligence.

According to NexG, there are plans to include an expansion into logistics fulfilment and digital payments. It is in discussions with government agencies to make digital ID more pervasive in everyday transactions.

Meanwhile, MMAG will support logistics and delivery needs, completing the MyNasional ecosystem, says NexG. However, details are scarce as to what this entails in terms of an AI-enabled digital ID service.

NexG had stated that the new identity cards are expected to help Malaysians access tiered and targeted subsidies and provide a secure and transparent delivery of financial aid and welfare benefits while reducing the risk of fraud or leakage.

Nonetheless, some quarters comment that such IT solutions are not rocket science and that NexG is not the only company with the technologies to perform these tasks.

In March, former public service director general Tan Sri Mohd Khairul Adib Abd Rahman emerged as a substantial shareholder of NexG with a 6.11% indirect stake. He had bought a stake in Kuantum Juang Sdn Bhd, which owns shares in NexG, from Datuk Safian Mohd Yunus. The value of the Kuantum Juang stake is unknown.

Soon after, Khairul Adib converted his NexG warrants and mopped up more shares, increasing his equity interest to 12.305%. As at Nov 20, Khairul Adib’s total shareholding in NexG stood at 561.7 million shares or 16.1% through his stakes in Kuantum Juang and Skyelimit Alliance Sdn Bhd. However, 421.7 million units or 12% of NexG’s shares held by Skyelimit Alliance are held in pledged securities accounts in the name of Kenanga Nominees (Tempatan) Sdn Bhd and Velocity Capital Sdn Bhd. 

On March 28, Khairul Adib was named executive deputy chairman of NexG but stepped down six months later in mid-October.

Prior to the appointment, Khairul Adib was MMAG’s chairman. Businessman Datuk Seri Farhash Wafa Salvador Rizal Mubarak then took over the chairmanship after his resignation.

It is worth noting that Farhash — the former political secretary of Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim — and NexG are shareholders of MMAG. Farhash emerged as MMAG’s largest shareholder with a 20% stake one day after NexG acquired the 7.58% stake.

Farhash’s share purchase was done through a direct business transaction on March 26, according to MMAG’s filing with Bursa Malaysia. While the transaction price was not disclosed, a check with Bloomberg shows that the 462 million shares were traded off-market in four tranches at 40 sen apiece, amounting to RM184.8 million.

The transaction price of 40 sen per share represents a 65% discount to MMAG’s closing price of 66 sen that day. There were no filings by MMAG on changes to its shareholding to Bursa Malaysia.

At NexG, another event that drew public attention was the appointment of lawyer Aswath Ramakrishnan to its board on Nov 18. Aswath represents Farhash in his suit against former Umno information chief Isham Jalil for defamation. Isham allegedly claimed that Farhash had invested nearly RM40 million in a company shortlisted for a government contract.

Meanwhile, Classita, which has been renamed NexG Bina Bhd (KL:NEXGBINA), appointed former inspector general of police Tan Sri Razarudin Husain as its non-executive chairman on Aug 11.

Shortly after securing the RM1.73 billion passport contract in August, NexG saw a boardroom exodus. In September, it announced the resignation of executive vice-president of strategy Datuk Ahmad Syahril Abdullah and Muhamad Fakhrul Khir Abdul Samat, director of its digital projects subsidiary NexG CSA Sdn Bhd. However, their resignations were effective from July. NexG issued a notice to the public to not engage with Syahril and Fakhrul in matters relating to the company.

Subsequently, Khairul Adib, the company’s largest shareholder, and Datuk Puvanesan Subenthiran resigned from the board on Oct 14, citing pursuit of other interests. Khairul Adib had been executive deputy chairman for less than six months while Puvanesan had been appointed to the board on Nov 12, 2024, as an independent, non-executive director, before being redesignated as executive director a month later.

The announcements came after NexG’s launch of the MyNasional digital ID platform.

Two more resignations followed — that of independent directors Datuk Seri Mohd Sopiyan Mohd Rashdi and Datuk Zainal Abidin Abu Hassan — on Oct 15. Sopiyan had just joined the board a month before while Zainal Abidin had been appointed in November 2024.

The next day, NexG appointed two non-independent non-executive directors — Syed Farid Syed Ahmad Al-Attas and Mohd Zafil Ibrahim — and two independent non-executive directors — Badrul Hisham Abdul Aziz and Mohamed Fairuz Mohamed Fauzy — to fill up the board seats.

The group clarified that the four board members — Khairul Adib, Puvanesan, Sopiyan and Zainal Abidin — resigned because “these individuals played a pivotal role in helping the company successfully secure a major project, and their departure marks the completion of that assignment”.

Prior to the slew of resignations in October, Azrul Yahya, a board representative of Urusharta Jamaah Sdn Bhd, stepped down in May. Azrul was made a non-independent non-executive director in May 2021.

On Nov 18, Datuk Che Nazli Jaapar resigned as an independent non-executive director. She was appointed to the board on Jan 14. Two days later, independent non-executive director Datuk Ibrahim Abdullah, who joined the board in February 2020, resigned.

Thereafter, NexG appointed Datuk Chong Loong Men as executive director. Chong also sits on the boards of Sarawak Consolidated Industries Bhd (KL:SCIB), Parlo Bhd (KL:PARLO) and Erdasan Group Bhd (KL:ERDASAN).

Meanwhile, Aswath and Kunal Tayal were made independent non-executive directors. Kunal is an Indian citizen who also holds directorships in G3 Global Bhd (KL:G3) and Green Packet Bhd (KL:GPACKET).

Just when the dust was about to settle at NexG, a rumour emerged that the company was under investigation by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).

NexG refutes this rumour, saying that as at Oct 23, it had not been contacted by MACC in relation to any investigation.

“Furthermore, none of our subsidiaries, directors or principal officers has been approached or requested to assist in any form of investigation by the authorities,” executive chairman and group CEO Datuk Abu Hanifah Noordin tells The Edge.

Hanifah, who holds a 9.28% stake in the company, stresses that NexG remains “committed to upholding the highest standards of integrity and transparency” in its operations, adding that it will cooperate fully with any lawful requests from the authorities should they arise.

Having seen the string of events at NexG, investors cannot help but think that there is more to it than meets the eye. And that may explain the lacklustre performance of NexG’s share price. 

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