Shares of long-haul budget carrier AirAsia X rose slightly in the company’s trading debut yesterday after raising US$310 million in Malaysia’s biggest initial public offering (IPO) this year.
AirAsia X shares topped the most active list, edging up to 1.27 ringgit by midday, or a 1.6 percent premium from its IPO price of 1.25 ringgit.
The offering, which comes amid a volatile period for global markets, comprised a public issue of 592.6 million new shares and the sale of 197.5 million existing shares.
Photo: Bloomberg
Aero Ventures, the biggest shareholder in AirAsia X, was the main seller of existing shares. It is controlled by AirAsia founder Tony Fernandes and several other Malaysians. After the IPO, Aero’s stake in AirAsia X dropped to 34.4 percent from 52.2 percent.
Billionaire Richard Branson’s Virgin Group, which owns Virgin Atlantic Airways, last year sold its 10 percent stake in AirAsia X, citing internal restructuring to focus on its own brand.
AirAsia X has said it would use proceeds of 741 million ringgit (US$233 million) raised from the public issue to repay bank debts and finance its expansion as it gears up for competition from Singapore Airline’s Scoot and Qantas Airways’ Jetstar.
Air travel in Asia is expected to grow 6.7 percent annually in the next 20 years, from 780 million passengers in 2010 to about 2.2 billion by 2030.
Budget aviation now has a quarter of the air travel market in Asia and is growing.
AirAsia X, which was launched in late 2007, flies to 14 destinations across Asia, Australia and the Middle East.
Analysts have said the IPO will boost AirAsia X as it seeks to establish new hubs to strengthen its network. AirAsia X axed flights to Europe last year and is focusing on more profitable medium-haul routes in Asia.
The airline carried 2.5 million passengers in 2011 and aims to increase its passengers to 7 million next year. It made a profit of 33.85 million ringgit last year on revenue of 1.28 billion ringgit.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last