AirAsia gets $1b offer to acquire leasing company

AirAsia received an offer valued at about $1b for its aircraft-leasing business, CEO Tony Fernandes said, prompting the shares to reach a new 14-month high in Kuala Lumpur trading. Asia’s biggest discount carrier intends to divest the fully-owned unit called Asia Aviation Capital Ltd. at some point, Fernandes said Monday. The company needs to further discuss the offer with the board, he said, without identifying the bidder. "We actually had an offer to buy it and I think this is a very powerful cash generator," Fernandes said. "There’s tremendous value and cash equation there." As airlines serving Asia Pacific move to triple their fleet, they’re finding it can be cheaper to lease jets instead of buying them from Boeing or Airbus. The leasing business can be more lucrative than operating an airline. Fernandes’s comments comes as Asia’s biggest lessor is slated to start trading in Hong Kong Wednesday after a HK$8.7 billion ($1.1b) initial public offering. “It was interesting that we haven’t even gone to the market and someone approached us on it, because obviously we have some very valuable assets in our A320s and a very strong order book,” Fernandes said. AirAsia, one of the biggest customers of Airbus’s single-aisle A320 jets, started the leasing company in 2014. <br/>