AirAsia India plans IPO, looks for banker to start process for public issue, says Tony Fernandes

AirAsia global CEO Tony Fernandes on Thursday revealed the Malaysia headquartered airline’s India arm will soon come up with initial public offering (IPO) as part of its plans to list on country’s stock market. Fernandes said analysts were giving zero value to AirAsia India and the carrier was “not far from 20 planes and a potential IPO.”

He further said the South East Asian budget carrier will seek approval at the next AirAsia India board meeting to pick a banker to start prelim process. According to him, the parent AirAsia has a very valuable asset with huge growth potential in Indian subsidiary.

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[caption id=“attachment_4298073” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] AirAsia is Malysia-based airline. Reuters[/caption] The airline, according to Fernandes, was in the process of appointing a banker to find a partner for “profitable and successful shared services centre AGSS”.

In June 2014, the airline started its subsidiary AirAsia India which enjoys a domestic market share of 4 percent. The airline has a fleet of 14 Airbus A320 aircraft with budget carriers like IndiGo and SpiceJet as its competitors, according to a report in Mint. The report further says the airline managed to cut its losses to Rs 16.4 crore in the September from Rs 62 crore in the corresponding period a year ago. In the same quarter, another budget carrier SpiceJet came up with a 79 percent increase in net profit to Rs 105.3 crore as against Rs 58.9 crore a year earlier.