AirAsia talking to several potential buyers for lease unit

[HONG KONG] AirAsia Bhd has attracted interest in the sale of its aircraft leasing unit and hopes to complete the transaction early next year, a senior executive said on Wednesday.

"We are looking for an investor for between 75 and 100 per cent... depending on investor appetite. That process will take I would say three to four months," Simon Perkins, finance director of Asia Aviation Capital, the leasing unit of Asia's largest budget carrier, told the Airline Economics conference in Hong Kong.

He said several potential buyers had signed confidentiality agreements allowing detailed talks, including some interested in the whole portfolio, which the airline recently pegged at 55 jets.

REUTERS