Bangkok--28 Dec--AirAsia
Mr. Tassapon Bijleveld, CEO of Thai AirAsia, announced that he has bought back 36.3% of shares in Asia Aviation PCL ("AAV") (a 55% shareholder of Thai AirASia Co., Ltd. ("Thai AirAsia")) at 4.70 Baht per share amounting to around 8.279 billion Baht for the 1.761 billion or so shares being purchased from Mr. Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, the Group Chairman of King Power Group, and his family, reasserting his passionate relationship with the airline, and has assured a continuation of its expansion plans.
Mr. Tassapon, who previously held a 5% stake in AAV has increased his stake after the transaction to 41.3%, explained that his bought back of the shares from the Srivaddhanaprabha family because of his love for the airline which he has been managing since its foundation and will allow him to better realize the vision and direction of the company.
"I assure all that the management team who has been running the airline from the very first day will continue to play a critical role in driving Thai AirAsia forward, along with the start that have always been so dedicated in helping the airline becoming Thailand's number one airline which reflects in our leading market share. Thai AirAsia will continue to invest in 2018 as planned, which will include among other things, the acquisition of 7 aircrafts. We estimate the number of passengers in 2018 to be around 22 million and we can achieve this by penetrating the markets in ASEAN, India and the People Republic of China." Mr. Tassapon said.
The CEO financed his share purchase with the support from Bangkok Bank Plc and will adhere to Securities and Exchange Commission declaration 12/2011 and submit a Mandatory Tender Offer on 8 January, 2018 to purchase the remaining shares in the market (approximately 58.7%) at the price of 4.70 THB per share.