Indonesia's Garuda estimates US$200m from GMF AeroAsia stake sale : CEO

[JAKARTA] Flag carrier PT Garuda Indonesia Tbk estimated its unit PT Garuda Maintenance Facility AeroAsia (GMF AeroAsia) could raise US$200 million from selling a 20 per cent stake to a strategic buyer, Garuda Indonesia CEO Pahala Mansury said.

A conditional sale and purchase agreement could be signed in early December, Mansury told reporters on Tuesday. There are four potential buyers, he said, declining to elaborate.

GMF AeroAsia has a longstanding partnership with Air France Industries KLM Engineering & Maintenance. The latter said in a statement last month that it signed a letter of intent with GMF AeroAsia to "move up" their partnership. It did not detail any plan to buy a stake.

Air France Industries KLM Engineering & Maintenance could not be reached for comment outside of regular business hours.

The chief executive of GMF AeroAsia, Iwan Djuniarto, told reporters on Tuesday the company will use the pricing of its initial public offering (IPO) last month as a benchmark when pricing the stake it intends to sell.

"The pricing can not be smaller than what we have sold to the public," Djuniarto said.

GMF AeroAsia sold 10 per cent of the company in an IPO at 400 rupiah per share, raising 1.12 trillion rupiah (S$112.8 million), he said.

The size of the potential sale to a strategic partner rose above an initially planned 10 per cent after the firm cut its IPO size. GMF AeroAsia had previously aimed to raise as much as 5.55 trillion rupiah through the IPO.

GMF AeroAsia shares debuted on the Indonesia Stock Exchange on Tuesday and were trading at 384 rupiah a piece at 0315 GMT.

The company plans to use proceeds from the strategic stake sale to help finance expansion and for debt repayment.

REUTERS