AirAsia Group completes $233mn rights issue

AirAsia Group will complete its renounceable rights issue to shareholders on December 31, raising 974.5m ringgit (US$233.3m) and “providing a strong injection to support the overall group fundraising strategy,” it said in a Bursa Malaysia filing on December 29. The AirAsia parent announced the fundraising initiative in July, saying at the time that it would raise up to MYR1.024b ringgit (US$245m), with the funds to be diverted to the group’s working capital and operational costs, as well as to boost the group’s efforts to diversify through its AirAsia Digital businesses. The cash call involves seven-year redeemable convertible unsecured Islamic debt securities, based on two RCUIDS with one warrant for every six AirAsia shares held. Each RCUIDS security is also convertible to one new AirAsia share on a one-to-one basis. The latest filing said that the RCUIDS and warrants would be listed on December 31. Proclaiming that the “airline recovery is well underway” and that AirAsia Group’s “fundraising strategy is on track to provide sufficient liquidity through 2022,” group CEO Tony Fernandes said: “After the most challenging two years in commercial aviation history, the end is finally within reach. We have survived the pandemic. We have restructured, relaunched, and are now in a stronger position to recover faster.”<br/>