<article>Southeast Asia’s largest low cost airline <a style="color: #000080;" href="http://www.airasia.com/my/en/about-us/hi-we-are-airasia.page" target="_blank">AirAsia Bhd</a> is in talks with private equity investors to sell a minority stake in its loyalty programme.</article>

Southeast Asia’s largest low cost airline <a style="color: #000080;" href="http://www.airasia.com/my/en/about-us/hi-we-are-airasia.page" target="_blank">AirAsia Bhd</a> is in talks with private equity investors to sell a minority stake in its loyalty programme.
<a href="http://www.airasiabig.com/my/en/" target="_blank">AirAsia BIG</a>, the loyalty programme owned by Asia&#8217;s biggest budget airline and Malaysia&#8217;s Tune Group, could raise about $100 million by selling about a 30 per cent stake, <a style="color: #000080;" href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/05/19/us-airasia-loyaltyprogramme-sale-idUSKBN0O40BM20150519" target="_blank">Reuters reported</a>.
The sale would value the loyalty programme business at about $330 million, the news wires reported on Tuesday.
The move is in line with AirAsia&#8217;s attempts to monetise its affiliates and comes after the airline &#8211; co-founded by entrepreneur Tony Fernandes &#8211; reported its first net loss in two years in the October-December quarter.
The deal was expected to close in a few months, although the talks were at a preliminary stage and the value and stake were subject to change, Reuters reported.
Yesterday, the airline denied in an official statement any plans for sale of the joint venture business.
AirAsia CEO Aireen Omar said the AirAsia BIG loyalty program has “tremendous potential for growth – leaps and bounds beyond where it is today”.
In the statement, she added: “The programme has over 13 million members and is growing at a rate of 150,000 new members a month. With an expanding range of partners and rewards, driven by an enthusiastic and passionate team, we expect BIG to grow their membership to over 20 million in four to five years so no, we are not selling.&#8221;
Think BIG Digital Sdn Bhd, which owns and manages the BIG Loyalty Programme, is a joint venture between AirAsia, Tune Money International and Aimia Inc &#8211; a Canada based global leader in loyalty management.
AirAsia brought in Toronto-listed Aimia Inc last year as a minority investor in Think Big Digital Sdn Bhd, which operates AirAsia and Tune Group&#8217;s loyalty programme.
AirAsia&#8217;s BIG loyalty programme is spread across Southeast Asia. It includes over 100 partners ranging from credit card companies, retail stores, hotels and travel industry brands.
Last year, Virgin Australia sold a minority stake in its frequent-flyer programme to private equity firm Affinity Equity Partners at a valuation which implied it was worth more than a third of the airline&#8217;s total enterprise value.
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Southeast Asia’s largest low cost airline AirAsia Bhd is in talks with private equity investors to sell a minority stake in its loyalty programme.

AirAsia in talks with private equity firms to sell stake in loyalty programme

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