Malaysia's MYAirline targets IPO within three years: CEO

MYAirline, Malaysia's newest low-cost carrier, plans to go public within the next three years, the company's chief executive told Nikkei Asia, outlining ambitious expansion plans to become a major regional player. CEO Rayner Teo said that though an initial public offering within that time frame is a tall order, he was confident the company, which started operations in November of last year, has the managerial resources to pull it off. "I've been given an aggressive target, but I foresee that we should be having the capability [to go public] in three years," Teo said in a recent interview. "From day one ... we have already factored in the future plans," he added, stressing that his team is ready to tackle the "very stringent" listing process laid out by the local exchange, Bursa Malaysia. Malaysian entrepreneur Goh Hwan Hua is MYAirline's top shareholder through two private entities, Zillion Wealth and Trillion Cove Holdings, which own 88% and 10% of shares, respectively. Teo holds the remaining 2%. MYAirline's main financial backer Goh has a background in accounting and finance, with more than 20 years of experience managing technology and application related businesses in Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Singapore. According to Trillion Cove's website where Goh is listed as the company's CEO and director, he has been involved in various businesses in e-commerce, fintech, retail and tourism. Teo said the idea to start the airline came after a discussion with Goh during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Teo said that a key reason was that virtually all global air traffic at the time was cargo. "I have never seen that before," he said. "What better opportunity, when all aircraft were sitting on the ground. That gave us a very big opportunity to get very good deals from the [aircraft] lessors." Teo has been in the aviation industry for nearly 30 years, 15 of which were with AirAsia as the group's head of sales and distribution.<br/>