Spring Airlines aims to raise more than $1.2 billion in an initial public offering in the first quarter of 2012 as China's sole budget carrier wants to double its fleet size in the next four years, its president said on Thursday.
Spring Airlines' IPO plan was progressing, Wang Zhenghua told Reuters at the company's headquarters in Shanghai. The 67-year-old, who founded Spring Airlines from a travel agency six years ago , said the IPO aimed to purge "the element of rule by people" at the company, referring to a theory of governance implied by Chinese philosopher Confucius and opposed to rule by law in western countries. "I started out as a small businessman. I like to be in control of everything...I see that in my CEO too," said Wang.
Spring Airlines hired UBS to help with the IPO and sent a notice to the China Securities Regulatory Commission, the stock market regulator, local media reported earlier this year.
If it takes place, the IPO will make Spring Airlines China's fifth-listed carrier, after bigger rivals Air China , China Eastern Airlines Corp , China Southern Airlines Co and Hainan Airlines Co . Spring Airlines will raise more than 8 billion yuan ($1.2 billion), a figure estimated by one investment bank in 2006 when the idea of floating the company on a stock exchange first surfaced, Wang told Reuters.
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.