Business Round-Up
Shanghai’s Spring Airlines IPO approved
November 1st 2014
Privately-run mainland low-cost carrier, Spring Airlines, has received regulatory blessing to launch an initial public offering (IPO) to fund its rapid fleet expansion. By year end, the profitable Shanghai-based carrier plans to trade one billion shares on the city’s stock exchange to collect about 2.5 billion yuan ($41 million) for the purchase of nine A320s and three A320s. Read More »
After a listing freeze and a revised application, the China Securities Regulatory Commission approved the IPO application, which made it the first non-state owned carrier to launch an IPO. Founded in 2004, the carrier has a network of 86 domestic and 24 regional destinations, serviced by 48 A320s, a fleet that will increase to 58 in 2015. Wang Zhenghua, who also owns the Spring International Travel Agency, has used the custom created by his travel agency to build a load factor at the airline that averages 95%. Spring reported a net profit of US$11.88 million for the 2013 financial year, but it also received government subsidies of US$8.143 million in the same 12-month period, said Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post. China’s other listed airlines are Air China, China Eastern Airlines, China Southern Airlines and Hainan Airlines.
