Tigerair Taiwan Ltd (台灣虎航) is to list its shares on the Taiwan Stock Exchange’s Taiwan Innovation Board (TIB) in the third quarter of this year, the exchange said on Friday.
The budget carrier’s shares have been trading on the Taiwan Stock Exchange’s Emerging Stock Board since December 2019.
Tigerair Taiwan was established in April 2014 as a joint venture between China Airlines Ltd (CAL, 中華航空) and Singapore’s Tiger Airways Ltd, with CAL holding a 90 percent stake. In 2017, CAL acquired the remaining 10 percent from Tiger Airways to make Tigerair Taiwan its wholly owned subsidiary.
Photo courtesy of Tigerair Taiwan Ltd
CAL currently owns a 78.41 percent stake in Tigerair Taiwan, with Mandarin Airlines Ltd (華信航空), another CAL subsidiary, holding a 3.86 percent stake and Cathay Life Insurance Co (國泰人壽) taking a 2.49 percent share, according to the budget carrier’s prospectus published last month.
Tigerair Taiwan, which has NT$4 billion (US$131.3 million) in paid-in capital, incurred a net loss of NT$2.85 billion last year, extending from a net loss of NT$2.27 billion a year earlier, while its sales rose to NT$1.31 billion from NT$244 million in 2021, the prospectus showed.
The airline offers flights to 25 destinations in the region. Its revenue accounts for 2.64 percent of the total revenue of Taiwan’s international carriers. EVA Airways Corp (長榮航空) leads with 37.52 percent of overall revenue, followed by CAL with 25.62 percent and Starlux Airlines Co (星宇航空) with 5.73 percent.
CAL and EVA listed their shares on the local main board in 1993 and 2001 respectively, while StarLux listed its shares on the Emerging Stock Board in September last year.
Separately, the Taiwan Stock Exchange on Friday said that its board approved an application by Gogolook Inc (走著瞧), a trust tech services provider, to list its shares on the TIB in the third quarter.
The exchange launched the TIB in July 2021. It aims to encourage companies with key technologies and innovation capabilities to raise funds on capital markets, and “help companies achieve faster growth and sustainable development.”
According to the rules governing TIB listings, profitability is no longer the main listing standard.
The board would inject capital into the innovation ecosystem, build new financing sources, highlight the value of start-ups and foster the virtuous cycle of economic development, the exchange has said.
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