Capital A Bhd CEO Tan Sri Tony Fernandes, who noted that Big Pay Pte Ltd remains the only loss-making entity among Capital A's non-aviation businesses, said the decision to sell the company is to address its capital needs. (Photo by Shahrill Basri/The Edge)
KUALA LUMPUR (March 12): Capital A Bhd (KL:CAPITALA) is selling off a majority stake in its 99.56%-owned financial technology arm, Big Pay Pte Ltd, to an undisclosed "very big" regional bank, according to its chief executive officer Tan Sri Tony Fernandes.
Fernandes, who noted that Big Pay remains the only loss-making entity among Capital A's non-aviation businesses, said the decision to sell the company is to address its capital needs.
"It's a good product, it just hasn't had enough capital. So we've decided to sell the majority of Big Pay to a very big regional bank — we're in negotiations. It's not just the regional bank, there are some big regional fintech players and global players that are looking at it," he said during an exclusive webinar on Wednesday hosted by Rakuten Trade.
"We would like to keep 30% [stake]," he added.
In an interview with The Edge last month, Fernandes revealed that Capital A was seeking a partner to take a stake in and lead Big Pay, following "tough" management issues within the company.
"Really, we need a partner [for Big Pay]. We’ve built a great programme. We’re going to be looking for a major partner to take this [forward]. We want to keep a stake in it, but it’s not something we are going to drive going forward," he was quoted as saying.
As at end-2024, Big Pay had over 1.6 million card holders, up from 1.5 million at end-2023, according to Capital A’s latest operating statistics.
Moving forward, Fernandes said the company is also exploring opportunities to introduce Buy Now Pay Later services for travel, while offering digital banking solutions to financial institutions across Asean, leveraging its extensive customer base.
"We’re a very attractive target. For me, it's about focus. I’d rather concentrate on our top three businesses — Asia Digital Engineering, Teleport, and AirAsia Move. We hope to continue growing Santan and Abc International, while retaining a small stake in Big Pay," he said.
Shares of Capital A, which recently obtained approval from Bursa Malaysia for its regularisation plan to exit the Practice Note 17 status, closed one sen or 1.28% higher at 79 sen on Wednesday, giving the company a market capitalisation of RM3.42 billion.
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