Mr.Tassapon Bijleveld, Chief Executive Officer of Asia Aviation PCL or AAV, and major shareholder of Thailand’s leading low-cost airline, Thai AirAsia, said the company plans to use part of the IPO proceeds to purchase Thai AirAsia’s newly issued ordinary shares allotted on the capital increase purpose. This will raise the company’s stake in Thai AirAsia to 55%.
Thai AirAsia will use some of the proceeds to double its Airbus A320 fleet size to 48 aircrafts within the next five years. The remainder of the IPO proceeds will be used for working capital and Thai AirAsia’s business operations.
“Thai AirAsia aims to be the low-cost airline with the largest market share. Our strength is our cost control, which makes us the airline with the lowest operating cost while the service quality remains intact. We offer the highest flight frequency for domestic and international routes that take less than four hours of flying. Today, we are ready to offer our shares to the public and will be listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand. This is another crucial step that will stabilize Thai AirAsia’s financial status and allow the company to march forward to its planned goal. We aim to grow at least 20%-25% from 2011, which will be supported by our new fleet, new route plans and flight frequency increase on potential routes,” Mr.Tassapon said.
Ms.Suvabha Charoenying, Managing Director of Thanachart Securities PCL, the deal’s financial advisor, revealed that Asia Aviation’s IPO plan has drawn an overwhelming response from local and overseas investors. Investors are confident in the company’s potential growth, positive business outlook and Thai AirAsia’s expertise.
“The IPO price of THB3.70 per share is appropriate. The demand following the book-building among the institutional investors in local and overseas markets was 10 times oversubscribed. This reflects their strong interest.”
The 1,212.5 million shares offered, which break down to 750 million new shares and 462.5 million shares from existing shareholders, represent 25% of the paid-up capital. The subscription period for the IPO is 23-25 May, 2012. Thanachart Securities and CIMB Securities (Thailand) is the co-lead underwriter for domestic market. Ten other brokerage firms, who are the co-underwriters, are as follows;
1. Krungsri Securities PLC.
2. SCB Securities
3. Maybank Kim Eng Securities (Thailand) PLC.
4. Kasikorn Securities PLC.
5. Trinity Securities
6. Asia Plus Securities PLC.
7. Bualuang Securities PLC.
8. Finansia Syrus Securities PLC.
9. Aira Securities PLC. and
10. UOB Kay Hian Securities (Thailand) PLC.
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Source: AirAsia
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