AirAsia plans $300m IPO for Indonesia unit

Jakarta - Budget carrier AirAsia is planning an initial public offering for its Indonesian affiliate around the middle of next year and hopes to raise $300m, AirAsia boss Tony Fernandes said on Monday.

The Malaysia-based carrier wants to expand its presence in fast-growing Indonesia. The crash of one of its planes in the archipelago last December, with the loss of 162 lives, has done little to dim its ambitions.

Asked about the planned IPO on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum on East Asia being held in Jakarta, Fernandes told AFP: "We hope to do it next year."

He added the airline was aiming for the middle of 2016 and the plan was to raise $300m.

Fernandes said he was "confident of the president's policies and drive on tourism".

Indonesian President Joko Widodo has been keen to boost the number of foreign visitors as he seeks to lift an economy growing at five-year lows and draw in more foreign currency as the rupiah weakens.

Flight QZ8501, operated by AirAsia's Jakarta-based affiliate, went down in the Java Sea en route to Singapore from the Indonesian city of Surabaya.