AirAsia India looks at IPO, to appoint banker soon

Loss-making AirAsia India will appoint a banker and look at floating an initial public offer (IPO) soon, its promoter Tony Fernandes said in a social media post on Wednesday morning.

“AirAsia in the process of appointing a banker to find a partner for our profitable and successful shared services centre… AIRASIA will be seeking approval at the next AIRASIA India board to pick a banker to start prelim process. Very valuable asset with huge growth potential. Analysts giving zero value to AirAsia india. Not far from 20 planes and a potential IPO,” Ferandes said in a series of tweets.

AirAsia India, which commenced operations in June 2014, has a 4% domestic market share with a fleet of 14 Airbus A320 aircraft and competes with budget airlines like IndiGo and SpiceJet.

AirAsia’s net loss had narrowed by 74% to Rs. 16.4 crore in the September quarter from the year-ago period. SpiceJet reported a 79% increase in net profit to Rs. 105.3 crore in the September quarter from Rs. 58.9 crore in the year ago.

Rival budget carrier IndiGo’s parent InterGlobe Aviation Ltd’s net profit almost quadrupled to Rs. 551.55 crore in the September quarter from a year ago, helped by credits received from manufacturers for aircraft delivery delays and grounding, besides better revenue management. AirAsia will be a 20-aircraft airline this year and hopes to fly abroad after that.

SpiceJet and IndiGo, which are listed companies, have a fleet of about 57 and 150 planes and have a market cap of about Rs. 8,000 crore and Rs. 47,000 crore, respectively.