Tigerair Taiwan (IT, Taipei Taoyuan) will list its shares on the Taiwan Stock Exchange’s Innovation Board in the third quarter of this year, the exchange said on April 17. Its shares have been trading since December 2019 on the emerging market of the Taipei Exchange, which operates as an over-the-counter (OTC) market.
A low-cost carrier that is majority owned by Taiwan’s China Airlines Group, Tigerair passed a resolution last December to apply for a listing on the Innovation Board, saying this would help it raise funds as Asia’s air passenger market opens up following the pandemic. Last month, it conducted a share issue ahead of the planned listing.
The China Airlines (CI, Taipei Taoyuan) parent currently holds a 78.41% stake in Tigerair Taiwan, with another of the group’s subsidiaries, Mandarin Airlines (AE, Taichung Ching Chuan Kang), holding 3.86% and Taipei-based insurer Cathay Life holding 2.49%, a prospectus the budget carrier published last month showed.
According to the prospectus, Tigerair Taiwan has TWD4 billion (USD131 million) in paid-in capital, and it incurred a net loss of TWD2.85 billion (USD93.4 million) last year that followed a net loss of TWD2.27 billion (USD74.4 million) the previous year despite a five-fold rise in turnover. According to the rules governing Innovation Board listings, profitability is no longer the main listing standard.
