KUALA LUMPUR: AirAsia Bhd today said it has yet to receive any offer to take the company private, in response to a newspaper's report that its founder Tan Seri Tony Fernandes was planning to do so and had begun talks with bankers.

"The board (of AirAsia) has not received any offers to take the company private," said AirAsia in its Bursa Malaysia filing after having made due enquiries with its board of directors.

It noted that its major shareholders evaluate all strategic options with regards to its various investments "from time to time", and that it also get approached "by several parties from time to time" with various proposals including to explore the possibility of increasing their stake in the company.

"However, the major shareholders have not reached any decision at this stage as there are many factors to carefully consider and this may or may not lead to any transaction," it added.

Fernandes, who is also the group chief executive officer, only has a 0.06% direct stake in AirAsia, but he together with executive chairman Datuk Kamarudin Meranun hold an indirect 18.99% in AirAsia through their ownership of Tune Air Sdn Bhd.

In today's filing, AirAsia also said it had, over the years, received enquiries from aircraft leasing companies and investors "from all over the world" who were interested in acquiring aircraft to expand their existing fleet.

"And since the incorporation of our wholly-owned subsidiary Asia Aviation Capital Ltd (AACL), we have received approaches from investors who are keen on co-investing in AACL as an indirect means of owning the aircraft in our fleet," it clarified.

It was referring to the same newspaper's report that mentioned AirAsia had been talking with aircraft lessors, including those from China, about selling them a stake in its leasing subsidiary.

AirAsia added that it will make the "appropriate announcements" to Bursa Malaysia should any material developments occur.

At 2.59pm, AirAsia was trading at RM1.49, up one sen or 0.68%, for a market capitalisation of RM4.15 billion.

(Note: The Edge Research’s fundamental score reflects a company’s profitability and balance sheet strength, calculated based on historical numbers. The valuation score determines if a stock is attractively valued or not, also based on historical numbers. A score of 3 suggests strong fundamentals and attractive valuations.)