MAI criteria change delays A&A listing

SET-listed Aira Capital, a financial holding firm, has postponed an initial public offering (IPO) plan for affiliate Aira & Aiful (A&A) to 2019 after the Market for Alternative Investment (MAI) has started requiring positive earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) before companies can seek a listing.

“We must push back the affiliate company’s plan to go public to the year 2019 because of the MAI’s criteria revision,” said Aira chief executive Nalinee Ngamsettamas.

A&A, which provides personal loans under the A-Money brand, earlier expected to seek listing on the MAI in the second half of 2018, but the MAI recently began requiring companies seeking listing to have positive EBITs, in additional to the required market capitalisation rate.

Mrs Nalinee said A&A is expected to turn a corner by 2019, delivering a boost to Aira’s bottom line as well.

A&A, in which Aira holds a 38% stake and Japan’s Aiful Corporation owns the rest, is still mired in net losses.

A&A’s lending portfolio shot up to 1.5 billion baht at the end of last year from 230 million baht a year before and jumped to 88,173 customers from 10,454.

To fund A&A’s business expansion, Aira will inject 450 million baht in May to subscribe to the personal loan service provider’s increased shares to maintain its shareholding.

Upon completion of the recapitalisation, A&A’s registered capital will be raised to 4 billion baht from 2.5 billion.

Mrs Nalinee said A&A aims to raise the number of its clients to 300,000, by the end of this year, with an average loan of 25,000 baht.

For Aira itself, she said the company is exploring a merger and acquisition deal in a non-finance business, but inorganic growth will not be its main focus this year.

“This year we will hire PwC to verify our investment,” Mrs Nalinee said. “We plan to push all subsidiaries and affiliate companies public.”

Aira’s consolidated revenue surged by 11.2% to 816.1 million baht lats year, with operating profit of 198.9 million or a 7% growth.

The holding firm last year jointly invested with Travelex London to set up Travelex Thailand to operate currency exchange services in Thailand. Aira owns sizeable stakes in Aira Securities, Aira Factoring and Aira Leasing.

AIRA shares closed yesterday on the Stock Exchange at 2.50 baht, down two satang, in trade worth 198.6 million baht.