AirAsia talking to several potential buyers for leasing unit

AirAsia Bhd, Asia’s largest budget airline, has attracted interest in the sale of its aircraft leasing unit and hopes to complete the transaction early next year, a senior executive said on Wednesday.

In a recent presentation, AirAsia, co-founded by entrepreneur Tony Fernandes, valued the wholly owned leasing arm at 4.1 billion ringgit ($1 billion) and said it aimed to attract an equity investor by year-end. The airline recently pegged the leasing firm’s portfolio at 55 jets.

“We are looking for an investor for between 75 and 100 percent … depending on investor appetite. That process will take I would say three-four months,” Simon Perkins, finance director of Asia Aviation Capital, the leasing unit of AirAsia, told the Airline Economics conference in Hong Kong on Wednesday.

A successful deal would help AirAsia bolster finances and cut debt built up after years of rapid growth.

Perkins said several potential buyers had signed confidentiality agreements allowing detailed talks, including some interested in the whole portfolio.

“There is quite a strong appetite out there, stronger than I thought it would be,” said Perkins. “Hopefully we will get to a conclusion in the first quarter or second quarter of next year.”