Tiger Update
In this afternoon's 'The Australain'.
TIGER Airways, based in Singapore, is seeking to raise as much as $S273 million ($213.7m) in an optimistic initial public offering that values its shares at between $S1.35 and $S1.65.
The airline wants to sell about 165 million shares, which would represent about 30 per cent of its final register, to set up new bases, fund aircraft and pay off loans.
Most of the shares will be a new issue, but 5.8 per cent will come from current investor Indigo partners.
Ryan family vehicle RyanAsia has also said it will sell down some of its stake if the IPO is oversubscribed, but Singapore Airlines, which holds 49 per cent, and Singapore government investment arm Temasek are not selling.
The indicative price values the shares at 11.4 to 13.9 times forecast 2011 earnings. Tiger Aviation posted a net loss of $S51m in the year to March 31, compared with a $S9.8m profit the previous year, and its cash reserves slumped from $S33.4m to $S13.2m.
Meanwhile, Jetstar and AirAsia denied that they had announced a cost-cutting alliance on the same day as the start of Tiger's investment roadshow with the goal of undermining its float.
AirAsia chief executive Tony Fernandes blamed the timing on the difficulty of getting the airlines' chief executives together on the same day.
Mr Fernandes welcomed the Tiger IPO, saying another publicly listed low-cost carrier would give AirAsia something against which it could compare its performance.