TransAsia Airways Corp (復興航空), one of the nation’s international air carriers, expects to introduce a strategic investor before its primary listing on the Taiwan Stock Exchange Corp (TWSE), scheduled for October or November, a company official said yesterday.
The air carrier plans to raise about NT$1.2 billion (US$41.37 million), or 100 million shares, in private equity capital, the official said.
“The investor will be a company with business experience of international airlines and which will therefore be able to help boost TransAsia technically and operationally,” company chairman Vincent Lin (林明昇) told a media briefing, after meeting with Japan Tourism Agency Commissioner Hiroshi Mizohata to celebrate the re-launch of charter flights to the city of Akita in Japan.
Photo: Lin Chia-chi, Taipei Times
However, Lin refused to reveal the investor’s name or further details of the case.
The company hoped to list its shares on the main bourse, if talks with the strategic investor went well.
TransAsia posted NT$409 million, or NT$0.72 per share, in profit for the first half of the year, compared with NT$964 million, or NT$1.91 per share, in the same period last year, the company said on Tuesday.
Lin said he expected earnings in the airline sector, including TransAsia, to grow in the second half of the year, compared with the first half, as oil prices fall and strong seasonal demand picks up.
Furthermore, TransAsia is also looking to offer regular flights on routes to Japan, and plans to file an application to do that with the Japanese government by the end of the year.
Currently, most of the air carrier’s flights between Taiwan and China and between Taiwan and Japan are charter flights, the company said.
Revenue stood at NT$863.86 million last month, up 3.35 percent from a year earlier, company data showed.
In the first seven months of the year, accumulated revenue amounted to NT$4.93 billion, representing an increase of 4.72 percent from the same period last year, data showed.
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