“I know it’s confusing, and AirAsia Consulting will be changing (its name) to Capital A Consulting very soon.

“To clear that up for everyone, AirAsia Consulting, which will set up its own fund, is looking at buying SriLankan Airlines,” he told reporters at a media briefing today.

“AirAsia Consulting is also looking for opportunities to invest in airlines outside of Asean. AirAsia is fully focused on Asean. That’s our goal,” added Fernandes.

AirAsia Consulting is a wholly owned subsidiary of Capital A, which is in the midst of regularising its financials after falling under the Practice Note 17 (PN17) classification.

To exit PN17, it has initiated various corporate exercises including merging Capital A’s airline businesses with AirAsia X Bhd, and listing of its branding business in the US.

Reuters reported on Monday that the AirAsia group is among six bidders for Sri Lanka’s state-run carrier as the island nation seeks to reduce losses incurred by government-owned enterprises, under a US$2.9 billion (RM13.8 billion) International Monetary Fund programme.

AirAsia Consulting CEO Subashini Silvadas said the group is still in the pre-qualification stage for the acquisition of SriLankan Airlines.

She said the company had submitted its documents under the request for qualification (RFQ) process but did not submit a price bid since due diligence has not been carried out yet.

“So, the next stage will be for them to review the documents and decide who are going to be the contenders to purchase the airline,” she said.