For the purpose of this announcement, “USD” refers to United States Dollar and “RM” refers to Ringgit Malaysia. Unless otherwise stated, the exchange rate of 4.0515, which is the rate quoted by Bank Negara Malaysia as at 11:00 a.m. on 29 December 2020, being the latest practicable date of this announcement, has been applied to the figures included in this announcement.

The Board of Directors (“Directors”) of AirAsia wishes to announce that its wholly owned subsidiary, AAIL, and Tata Sons Private Limited, India (“TSL”) had on 29 December 2020 entered into a Share Purchase Agreement (“SPA”) to dispose of AAIL’s equity interest of 32.67% in AAI (“Sale Shares”) to TSL for a total consideration sum (“Purchase Consideration”) of USD37,660,000 (or MYR 152.58 million). 

The investment in AAI, an associate company, has been accounted using the equity method under which the original cost of the investment is adjusted for our share of profit or loss in subsequent years. The share of losses over the years have resulted in the carrying value of the investment at the date of transaction to be Nil. The Proposed Disposal will therefore result in a gain on disposal of USD37,660,000 (equivalent to approximately MYR152.58 million) in Q4 2020 at both AAIL and consolidated group level. The net assets and cash balance of AAIL will also increase by the same amount immediately after this cash disposal exercise. The Directors do not foresee any material risk in relation to the Proposed Disposal.

The Directors of AirAsia  also wishes to announce that AAIL has further agreed to waive off unpaid brand license fees payable by AAI to AirAsia Berhad, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company, under the Brand License and Technical Services Agreement dated 30 December 2019 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This waiver will not have any material effect on the earnings per share, net assets per share and gearing of AirAsia and its subsidiaries. 

Please refer to the attachment for the detailed announcement. 

This announcement is dated 29 December 2020.