AirAsia X CEO Benyamin Ismail
KUALA LUMPUR: AirAsia X Bhd
said its placement of shares with two institutional investors was timely and strategic to raise funds primarily for use to reactivate and maintain the company’s fleet.
In a statement today, AirAsia X said the placement would be the company’s first equity fundraising exercise since 2015 as AirAsia X continues to evaluate its operational and financial performance as well as the viability of its PN17 regularisation plan.
"The proceeds from the proposed placement would serve as an interim fundraising measure to bolster its short-term working capital requirements as AirAsia X continues to recover and grow its operations in this post-pandemic era,” it added.
Chief executive officer Benyamin Ismail said AirAsia X continues to grow since the reopening of the regional borders last year and has been ramping up its operations to cater to the demand for international air travel across the regions.
"As of May 2023, AirAsia X has 17 aircraft within its fleet, with 11 activated and operational, and we aim to activate more aircraft by the end of the year.
"So far, we have reported a turnaround of the company’s financial performance from lossmaking to registering two consecutive quarters of profit for the financial periods ended Sept 30, 2022, and Dec 31, 2022,” he said.
He said that with this proposed placement, all indicators signal the company is moving in the right direction and will have much stronger grounds for its continued and concerted efforts to revitalise its business as the industry’s recovery takes place in the near future.
AirAsia X is currently flying 16 medium-haul destinations, including the recently launched Chengdu (Tianfu) and three short-haul routes from Kuala Lumpur to Kota Kinabalu, Bali - Denpasar and Bangkok, with a total of 83 flights weekly.
In a filing with Bursa Malaysia yesterday, AirAsia X proposed to undertake a placement of 32.25 million new ordinary shares at an issue price of RM1.55 per share to raise gross proceeds of approximately RM50 million.
The placement represents 7.78 per cent of the total number of issued shares to AHAM Asset Management Bhd, AIIMAN Asset Management Sdn Bhd and Lavin Group Sdn Bhd.
"The proceeds amounting to approximately RM49.45 million will be used to fund the working capital requirements of the group -- aircraft activation costs: RM23.0 million, aircraft maintenance costs: RM18.50 million and other operating expenses: RM7.90 million.
"Estimated expenses in relation to the proposed placement is RM600,000,” it said. - Bernama
