AirAsia Scraps Plans to Buy Batavia Air for $80 Million

AirAsia

Malaysian carrier AirAsia has scrapped its plans to buy Indonesian airline Batavia Air citing “too many risks” involved.

AirAsia had announced the deal in July…with the reported purchase price of $80 million. But AirAsia CEO Tony Fernandes says they will go in a different direction.

“We always knew it was not going to be an easy transaction. It has been a very good experience and we come out of it feeling more confident of what we need to do to grow the market in Indonesia.

“The company’s decision was based on a thorough evaluation by many parties into Batavia Air.

“In our minds, the timing was perhaps not appropriate as it would have induced too many risks and would ultimately be earnings dilutive to our shareholders.”

Sukirno Sukarna, commercial director for Batavia, earlier told Associated Press in Jakarta that the deal was called off as the two parties failed to reach an agreement.

Source