Tiger Airways Holdings has taken a 40% stake in Philippine carrier Southeast Asian Airlines (SEAir) as it seeks to build its Asian network.
The investment will be held through Tiger’s wholly owned subsidiary, Roar Aviation II and is being purchased from existing foreign shareholders at US$7 million, less liabilities to be confirmed in a due diligence review.
“We are pleased to welcome a new Cub to our family and look forward to nurturing its growth with our Filipino business partners. The investment in SEAir is in-line with our strategy to develop the business into a pan-Asian one, one that will enable us to leverage on the strength of our Singapore base and scale up the size of our business across the region,” said Tiger’s chief executive officer, Chin Yau Seng.
The move follows Tiger’s acquisition of a 33% stake in Mandala Airlines in Indonesia in January this year. “We will continue to seek opportunities to extend the Tiger reach in Asia Pacific. Asia is one of the fastest growing areas in air travel and we intend to play a major role in driving that growth,” said Chin.
SEAir currently operates two Airbus A319 aircraft leased from Tiger under the Tiger Partner Airline programme. In addition, there are plans to expand the fleet to five aircraft within this financial year with the addition of three A320 aircraft.
