AirAsia says no knowledge of privatisation plan

KUALA LUMPUR: AirAsia Bhd states it has no knowledge of plans to privatise the low-cost carrier as reported in the media.

It said on Wednesday it was first made aware of the privatisation rumour since it surfaced in August this year with the company shares being actively traded. 

“This was just prior to the company announcing its proposal for a share buy-back of up to ten percent (10%) on Sept 18, 2015. 

“The company confirm that it is in discussion with certain bankers to partially finance the buy-back of these AirAsia shares,” it said. 

AirAsia said the circular to the shareholders was being drafted for the upcoming extraordinary general meeting tentatively to be held in November this year where shareholders’ approval will be sought for the proposed share buy-back.

At midday, AirAsia was the most active, up nine sen to RM1.34 while its call warrants AirAsia C25 jumped 5.5 sen to 26 sen.

Its medium-haul low cost affilifate AirAsia X added one sen to 21 sen.