Timely placement strengthens balance sheet and shows strong investor confidence in the future of AirAsia X
SEPANG, 23 May 2023 - AirAsia X Berhad (“AirAsia X” or the “Company”) has announced its intention to enter into a proposed placement of shares (“Proposed Placement”) with two institutional investors, one of them being a local institutional investor, potentially raising up to RM50 million of new capital.
Between 2020 - 2022, AirAsia X had implemented a number of measures to address the Company’s financial concerns in the wake of the pandemic including its debt restructuring scheme and an array of corporate restructuring and cost containment exercises. With the continued efforts taken by the Company to regularise and improve its financial condition, coupled with the scaling up of its operations after the reopening of regional borders across the world since early 2022, the Company had turned around its financial performance from loss-making to registering two consecutive quarters of profit for the financial periods ended 30 September 2022 and 31 December 2022.
On the back of this momentum, the Proposed Placement would be a timely and strategic means for the Company to raise funds which will primarily be used for the reactivation and maintenance of the Company’s fleet. This would be the Company's first equity fundraising exercise since 2015 as AirAsia X continues to evaluate its operational and financial performance as well as the viability of its PN17 regularisation plan, the proceeds from the Proposed Placement would serve as an interim fundraising measure to bolster its short term working capital requirements as the Company continues to recover and grow its operations in this post-pandemic era.
Benyamin Ismail, CEO of AirAsia X said: “Since the reopening of the regional borders last year, AirAsia X continues to grow and we have been ramping up our operations to cater to the demand for international air travel across the regions. As of May 2023, AirAsia X has 17 aircraft within its fleet, with 11 activated and operational and we aim to activate more aircraft by the end of the year. So far, we have reported a turnaround of the Company’s financial performance from lossmaking to registering two consecutive quarters of profit for the financial periods ended 30 September 2022 and 31 December 2022.
“We are pleased to have embarked on this new era post-COVID-19, in which we witness the return of confidence in the aviation industry, which has shown clear evidence of a rebound following three long years of stall. With this Proposed Placement, all indicators signal the Company is moving into the right direction and will have a much stronger ground for its continued and concerted efforts to revitalise its business, as the industry’s recovery takes place in the near future.”
AirAsia X is currently flying 16 medium-haul destinations including the recently launched Chengdu (Tianfu) and three short-haul routes from Kuala Lumpur to Kota Kinabalu, Bali - Denpasar and Bangkok, with a total of 83 flights weekly.