AirAsia Consulting, not AirAsia, is bidding for SriLankan Airlines

COLOMBO (News 1st); Capital A Bhd’s unit AirAsia Consulting Sdn Bhd is the entity that is bidding to acquire SriLankan Airlines, and if it materialises, will raise its own capital for the acquisition, according to chief executive officer Tan Sri Tony Fernandes.

“Just to clear that up for everyone, AirAsia is not buying SriLankan Airlines. AirAsia Consulting, which will set up its own fund, is looking at buying SriLankan Airlines. So, it's not AirAsia,” he told reporters here at a briefing on Wednesday for Capital A to announce the extension of his tenure as CEO for another five years.

“I know it's confusing, and AirAsia Consulting will be changing [its name] to Capital A Consulting very soon. So, that's for airlines who want to consult our 23 years of experience, but [AirAsia Consulting] is also looking for opportunities to invest in airlines outside of Asean. AirAsia is fully focused on Asean. That's our goal,” he said.

Capital A is carrying out a series of restructuring to remedy its Practice Note 17 status due to its negative equity position, which amounted to RM10.47 billion as at Dec 31, 2023 (FY2023).

These corporate exercises, pending regulatory approvals, include merging Capital A's airline businesses with AirAsia X Bhd, the listing of its branding businesses in the US, and raising accounting gains to hopefully be sufficient to offset its negative equity position.

AirAsia Consulting CEO Subashini Silvadas told that the company is still in the pre-qualification stage for the acquisition of national carrier SriLankan Airlines, and has yet to submit any price bid since due diligence has not been carried out.

Recently, Sri Lanka's State-Owned Enterprise Restructuring Unit (SOERU) announced that six Request For Qualifications (RfQ) were received for the acquisition of shares of SriLankan Airlines.

These RfQs were received from the following parties:

1. AirAsia Consulting Sdn. Bhd.
2. Dharshaan Elite Investment Holding (Pvt) Ltd
3. FITS Aviation (Private) Limited
4. Sherisha Technologies Private Limited
5. Treasure Republic Guardians Limited
6. Hayleys PLC.