SINGAPORE: Malaysia-based AirAsia is considering an initial public offering for its Indian unit and seeking a partner for its services business, the carrier’s group chief executive Tony Fernandes said on Wednesday.
This is the latest in a series of asset monetizations being undertaken by the budget airline group, which this week received shareholder nod for a reorganization to make AirAsia Group the listed holding company for assets across Asia.
AirAsia has already completed a backdoor listing of Indonesia AirAsia and finalized a S$119.3 million (SR336.04 million) joint venture for its ground-handling business with Singapore’s SATS. Its Philippine unit is looking to raise up to $250 million via an IPO in mid-2018.
AirAsia will seek approval at the next AirAsia India board meeting to pick a banker to start a preliminary process for an IPO, Fernandes posted on Twitter on Wednesday.
While analysts are “giving zero value to AirAsia India”, the unit is a “very valuable asset with huge growth potential”, he said in separate tweets, adding the subsidiary “was not far from 20 planes and a potential IPO”.
According to Indian regulations, airlines need to have a fleet of at least 20 aircraft to fly on international routes.
AirAsia India, a joint venture with India’s Tata Sons conglomerate, had 14 planes at end-2017. Its revenue last year was expected to double to 12 billion rupees and climb to 18 billion rupees in 2018.
The fast-growing Indian venture reported a net loss of 164 million rupees in the quarter ended September, according to AirAsia’s latest accounts.
“AirAsia India is still incurring start-up losses and in negative equity so it is challenging to ascribe much value to the business at this point,” said Corrine Png, the CEO of transport research firm Crucial Perspective.
However, she said if the Indian venture grew its fleet to 20 and turned profitable, AirAsia’s 49-percent stake could be worth $200 million based on listed Indian airline rivals.
Fernandes said AirAsia was also in the process of appointing a banker to find a partner for its shared services center business, AirAsia Global Shared Services, which provides accounting services and data management for its airlines.
But Png said the value of that business would be insignificant, at around 1 million ringgit.
AirAsia said it did not have any additional information to share on the plans announced by Fernandes.
The company’s strategy involves selling more stakes in non-flying businesses to help fund special dividends, Fernandes said in October.
AirAsia explores India unit IPO, seeks partner for services business
AirAsia explores India unit IPO, seeks partner for services business
‘The future is renewables,’ Indian energy minister tells World Economic Forum
- ‘In India, I can very confidently say, affordability (of renewables) is better than fossil fuel energy,’ says Pralhad Venkatesh Joshi during panel discussion
- Renewables are an increasingly important part of the energy mix and the technology is evolving rapidly, another expert says at session titled ‘Unstoppable March of Renewables?’
BEIRUT: “The future is renewables,” India’s minister of new and renewable energy told the World Economic Forum in Davos on Wednesday.
“In India, I can very confidently say, affordability (of renewables) is better than fossil fuel energy,” Pralhad Venkatesh Joshi said during a panel discussion titled “Unstoppable March of Renewables?”
The cost of solar power has has fallen steeply in recent years compared with fossil fuels, Joshi said, adding: “The unstoppable march of renewables is perfectly right, and the future is renewables.”
Indian authorities have launched a major initiative to install rooftop solar panels on 10 million homes, he said. As a result, people are not only saving money on their electricity bills, “they are also selling (electricity) and earning money.”
He said that this represents a “success story” in India in terms of affordability and “that is what we planned.”
He acknowledged that more work needs to be done to improve reliability and consistency of supplies, and plans were being made to address this, including improved storage.
The other panelists in the discussion, which was moderated by Godfrey Mutizwa, the chief editor of CNBC Africa, included Marco Arcelli, CEO of ACWA Power; Catherine MacGregor, CEO of electricity company ENGIE Group; and Pan Jian, co-chair of lithium-ion battery manufacturer Contemporary Amperex Technology.
Asked by the moderator whether she believes “renewables are unstoppable,” MacGregor said: “Yes. I think some of the numbers that we are now facing are just proof points in terms of their magnitude.
“In 2024, I think it was 600 gigawatts that were installed across the globe … in Europe, close to 50 percent of the energy was produced from renewables in 2024. That has tripled since 2004.”
Renewables are an increasingly important and prominent part of the energy mix, she added, and the technology is evolving rapidly.
“It’s not small projects; it’s the magnitude of projects that strikes me the most, the scale-up that we are able to deliver,” MacGregor said.
“We are just starting construction in the UAE, for example. In terms of solar size it’s 1.5 gigawatts, just pure solar technology. So when I see in the Middle East a round-the-clock project with just solar and battery, it’s coming within reach.
“The technology advance, the cost, the competitiveness, the size, the R&D, the technology behind it and the pace is very impressive, which makes me, indeed, really say (renewables) is real. It plays a key role in, obviously, the energy demand that we see growing in most of the countries.
“You know, we talk a lot about energy transition, but for a lot of regions now it is more about energy additions. And renewables are indeed the fastest to come to market, and also in terms of scale are really impressive.”
Mutizwa asked Pan: “Are we there yet, in terms of beginning to declare mission accomplished? Are renewables here to stay?”
“I think we are on the road but (its is) very promising,” Pan replied. There is “great potential for future growth,” he added, and “the technology is ready, despite the fact that there are still a lot of challenges to overcome … it is all engineering questions. And from our perspective, we have been putting in a lot of resources and we are confident all these engineering challenges will be tackled along the way.”
Responding to the same question, Arcelli said: “Yes, I think we are beyond there on power, but on other sectors we are way behind … I would argue today that the technology you install by default is renewables.
“Is it a universal truth nowadays that renewables are the cheapest?” asked Mutizwa.
“It’s the cheapest everywhere,” Arcelli said.
