The directors/shareholders of AirAsia X Bhd, which is part of the group of AirAsia Bhd, namely Tan Sri Tony Fernandes, Datuk Kamarudin Meranun, Datuk Kalimulah Hassan, Mr Lim Kian Onn, Tuan Omar Ong and others must be jumping for joy after reading the advertisement campaign article above by Ms B K Sidhu of the Star. She is a fantastic writer and most fitting to be appointed as the Sale and Promotion General Manager for AA and/or AAX. Yours truly will not be surprised if one day she joins the rank of Tuan Al-Ishal Ishak.
The most glaring parts of her said article are as follows:
“Both the blue and white forms were for retail investors, who incidentally, had over-subscribed for the share by one time thus far, added the source.”
“We reckon the institutional and retail portions would be more than five to six times over-subscribed at closing,” said a source, adding that thus far, AIA and MIDF were the institutional investors keen on the shares.”
This was what Ms BK Sidhu herself stated:
“The road show for the institutional portion, meanwhile, is still under way. The over-subscription rate for this portion is about three to four times thus far. The roadshow has yet to cover US investors.”
The article was definitely very professionally written by her. Unfortunately, she chose to quote from an un-known “SOURCE”. May be she was a bit shy to name the “source” which is quite understandable under the circumstances. Hopefully she didn’t get the information on over-subscription rate from the “chili source” otherwise she will be in hot soup.
Luckily she inserted this paragraph in her article:
“To LURE retail investors to subscribe to the IPO, AAX is dangling a zero fare return air ticket to any destination flown by the airline to investors who buy 10,000 IPO shares, and three tickets for those who buy 100,000 IPO shares as part of its shareholder benefits programme.”
Of course, she INADVERTENTLY left out the AirAsia X Bhd’s par value of RM0.15 per share and the chequered background of AirAsia X Bhd when it was known as Fly Asian Express Sdn Bhd aka FAX of Rural Air Services (RAS) fame, in HERE.
Ms B K Sidhu’s full article in the Star is in HERE.
The above indirect promotional article in Starbiz of today, in HERE.
Below are the advertisements appearing in the Star today.
Tuan Azran Rani-Omar has been hailed to be a “true Malaysian” by none other that Datuk Kalimullah Hassan, a director and shareholder of AirAsia X Bhd, and followed by YB Lim Guan Eng, the Chief Minister of Penang. To borrow YB Lim Kit Siang words, Tuan Azran Rani-Omar should be hailed as a “Towering Malay”.
With two full page and quarter page paid advertisements and two promotional articles in the Star in ONE DAY, over-subscription of four times of the AirAsia X IPO as stated by Ms BK Sidhu should be an under speculation at best!
Perhaps the investing public might want to ask Ms BK Sidhu since the AirAsia X IPO over subscription is 3 to 4 times why was there a need for so many advertisements and articles in the Star in one day. We should not be surprised to see more advertisements of the AirAsia X and/or AirAsia X IPO appearing in the Star and other papers tomorrow, the 19-5-2013 the closing date of the said IPO.
Please read an interesting article by Another Brick In The Wall in HERE.
