AirAsia chief to scout for more fundraising after SPAC listing
AirAsia chief Tony Fernandes plans to seek fresh funding in Southeast Asia’s equities markets after a much-touted SPAC listing in the U.S. later this year. Options for fundraising include revisiting plans for an initial public offering of aviation assets in the Philippines, doing a share placement in Indonesia, and eventually listing a host of nonaviation units, Fernandes said in an interview.
“We might use a public company [in Indonesia] to raise some more capital through a placement," he said. “And we will look to list the Philippines entity," floating 20% or 30% of shares, he said, referring to the company’s Manila-based aviation unit. He didn’t provide further details about the possible fundraising, saying only that any moves would come after a restructuring and merger of aviation assets in the works.
The group has one company listed in Jakarta, AirAsia Indonesia. AirAsia, Southeast Asia’s largest budget carrier with an order book of more than 600 Airbus jets, is in the middle of a multiyear comeback after the pandemic and intense regional competition withered away sales and battered its bottom line. The group is seeking to pivot away from heightened regulatory scrutiny on Malaysia’s stock exchange—where shares of AirAsia operator Capital A are trading lower than when they first listed in 2004—to expanding into a low-cost global aviation juggernaut capable of flying to London, Cairo, New York and beyond.
Read more on livemint.com
