SHARE OFFERING: Suvabha Charoenying (third left) and Tassapon Bijleveld (centre) with Thai AirAsia staffs.
KUCHING: Asia Aviation pcl, the major shareholder of Thai AirAsia, has priced its initial public offering (IPO) of stock at 3.70 baht per share.
According to a press statement yesterday, “The 1,212.5 million shares, to be offered to investors from May 23 to 25, would be traded on the Stock Exchange of Thailand.”
Thanachart Securities, the deal’s financial advisor, is the joint lead underwriter with CIMB Securities (Thailand) and Credit Suisse while 10 other brokerage firms would be the sales agents for the offering.
Tassapon Bijleveld, chief executive officer of Asia Aviation and major shareholder of Thailand’s leading low-cost airline, Thai AirAsia, said the company planned to use part of the IPO proceeds to purchase Thai AirAsia’s newly issued ordinary shares allotted on the capital increase purpose.
The statement noted that this would raise the company’s stake in Thai AirAsia to 55 per cent.
It added that, “Thai AirAsia will use some of the proceeds to double its Airbus A320 fleet size to 48 aircrafts within the next five years. The remainder of the IPO proceeds will be used for working capital and Thai AirAsia’s business operations.”
“Thai AirAsia aims to be the low-cost airline with the largest market share. Our strength is our cost control, which makes us the airline with the lowest operating cost while the service quality remains intact.
“We are ready to offer our shares to the public and this is another crucial step that will stabilise Thai AirAsia’s financial status and allow the company to march forward to its planned goal.
He added further that Thai AirAsia aimed to grow at least 20 per cent to 25 per cent from 2011, believing that this would be supported by its new fleet, new route plans and flight frequency increase on potential routes.
Suvabha Charoenying, managing director of Thanachart Securities pcl, the deal’s financial advisor, revealed that Asia Aviation’s IPO plan had drawn an overwhelming response from local and overseas investors.
Investors were confident in the company’s potential growth, positive business outlook and Thai AirAsia’s expertise.
“The IPO price of 3.70 baht per share is appropriate. The demand following the book-building among the institutional investors in local and overseas markets was 10 times oversubscribed. This reflects their strong interest,” she added.