AirAsia shares rise at mid-morning

Shares of AirAsia Bhd rose at mid-morning Monday on Bursa Malaysia following talk of the airline going private.

As at 11.15 am, its stock rose six sen to RM1.87 with 25.544 million units changing hands.

According to a report citing sources, Tune Air Sdn Bhd (AirAsia's founder) has been in talks for some time now with China Everbright Bank Co Ltd, to privatise the airline.

Maybank Investment Bank Aviation Analyst Mohshin Aziz said rumours of AirAsia's privatisation had surfaced time and again and since its listing back in November 2014.

"By our count, there were at least five such attempts and this latest, makes it six.

"However, a formal offer was never made to AirAsia for the privatisation, thus inferring that it was not as 'imminent', as the market would have thought," he said in a research note today.

He added that if the privatisation materialised, and at the last share price of RM1.81, it would mean RM4.08 billion would be forked out by both Tune Air and China Everbright.

Maybank Investment Bank is neutral on the event pending details and rated AirAsia as a "hold" from "buy" on the back of an outperforming share price.