AirAsia PH looking to list to raise money

According to reports coming out of a virtual briefing with Tony Fernandes, the CEO of AirAsia Group [link], the group’s intention is to list AirAsia Philippines on the PSE within the next 12 months. Mr. Fernandes said that the investment bank has given them “a few options”, including a straight IPO and a backdoor listing, but he was evasive on the amount that could be raised. Perhaps this is due to AirAsia Philippines still needing to “get the valuation done”. 

MB bottom-line: What’s old is new again. Teasing the market with a potential IPO is something Mr. Fernandes has been doing for years, but it’s not clear to me why. I mean, I get why he would want to sell shares to the public to both raise money to pay for new planes but also to pull in some fresh capital potentially for the parent company and for himself, but it’s not clear to me why he is so loud about potentially listing now when he’s literally done this multiple times in the past. He’s the boy who cried IPO. Perhaps for Mr. Fernandes it’s more about all of the attention that comes with this kind of talk, from the banks that want his listing fees, and the exchange itself that could really use a win or two, and a huge public listing like AirAsia Philippines would certainly qualify as that. I’ve had a few readers write in to ask about this, but this feels like vanity to me, and I’m going to ignore it going forward until there’s an application with the SEC. I mean, they haven't even done a valuation? Please.

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