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JAKARTA. Malaysian budget airline AirAsia Group has announced a plan to hold an initial public offering (IPO) for its Indonesian affiliate, the realization of which is pending approval from its board, said group CEO Tony Fernandes.
“We can confirm today that AirAsia Indonesia and AirAsia Philippines will have an IPO. Subject to respective board approvals,” Fernandes said on his official Twitter account on Monday. “Business in both Philippines and Indonesia doing real well. Great support from both governments,” he continued.
AirAsia owns 49 percent of Indonesia AirAsia and 40 percent of AirAsia Philippines.
Separately, PT Indonesia AirAsia (IAA) corporate secretary Audrey Progastama Petriny said the airline could not yet confirm when the IPO would take place.
“IAA handled the crisis very well after the accident so it wouldn’t affect its prospects, however its financial report is not very good and it may affect the price.”
“We are currently reviewing and preparing [for the IPO] and will make an official announcement at the appropriate time,” she told The Jakarta Post.
The airline has planned to hold the IPO since 2011. The company originally intended to sell around 15 to 20 percent of stakes to the public, expecting to generate US$150 million to $200 million.
PT Universal Broker Indonesia research division head Satrio Utomo said IAA could benefit from the currently strengthening Jakarta Composite Index (JCI) despite the crash of AirAsia flight QZ8501 in December.
He added that Indonesia AirAsia would be a good option apart from flag-carrier PT Garuda Indonesia in the stock exchange’s aviation sector.
He said, however, that the company’s financial report was not convincing enough to help the airline in offering a high price.
“IAA handled the crisis very well after the accident so it wouldn’t affect its prospects, however its financial report is not very good and it may affect the price,” he said.
In December last year, flight QZ8501 en route to Singapore from Surabaya, East Java, crashed with 162 people on board.
In March, the National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) officially ceased its search operation for the plane, which crashed into the sea off South Kalimantan.
So far, the East Java Police’s Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) team has identified the remains of 97 people from a total of 103 victims that have been found.
National Transportation Safety Committee (KNKT) head Tatang Kurniadi said that the committee would finish a final report on the investigation into the crash within seven months after the incident.
IAA was established on Dec. 8, 2004 from the merger of two companies, namely AirAsia International Ltd. and PT Awair International, a local airline that had been operating since 2000.
The airline currently serves flights through five hubs located in Jakarta, Bandung, Bali, Surabaya and Medan. Over a period of 10 years, Indonesia AirAsia has flown over 40 million passengers.
The airline operates 33 routes, consisting of 21 international routes and 12 domestic routes. (Nadya Natahadibrata)
