AirAsia makes Tune Money its wholly owned unit
AirAsia Bhd is acquiring the remaining 60% interest in financial services provider Tune Money Sdn Bhd as well as its entire issued redeemable preference shares (RPS) for RM6.36mil in cash.
In a filing with Bursa Malaysia, AirAsia said the payment of about RM0.038 per ordinary 10 sen share and RM150,000 per RPS to vendor Tune Money International Sdn Bhd (TMI) would be financed by the company’s internally generated funds.
TMI and AirAsia share two common shareholders and directors, namely Tan Sri Tony Fernandes and Datuk Kamarudin Meranun.
AirAsia said Bank Negara had stated on Sept 30 that it had no objections to the transaction.
On the rationale for the acquisition, it said this would give additional benefits that could only be realised through full ownership and control of Tune Money.
“Full ownership would allow greater control and facilitate accelerated decision-making with regards to AirAsia priority items that would help support the company’s business plan and commercial objectives.
“Additionally, once AirAsia increases its stake in Tune Money to above 50%, Tune Money will no longer be classified as an associate and AirAsia will be able to incorporate Tune Money’s contributions to company revenue, which would improve AirAsia’s top line as well as ancillary revenue,” the low-cost carrier said.
These, it added, were on top of the existing benefits that AirAsia enjoyed through its ownership of a stake in Tune Money, such as lower merchant discount rate, increasing ancillary spend by incentivising guests with meal and baggage discounts, and accelerating deployment of the BIG Loyalty programme by allowing points accrual from purchases outside the AirAsia ecosystem.