Abacus invests in Indonesian airline

Abacus Consolidated Resources and Holdings Inc. will invest $1 million in an Indonesian airline in a bid to take advantage of the market potential of the rapidly liberalizing airline industry in the region.

In addition, the publicly listed firm said that it also has options to increase its investments in PT Lite Airways Indonesia to $3 million at its discretion, subject to the amount being matched by its partner Lite Aviation Holdings Ltd. (LAH).

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, Abacus explained that, as the fastest-growing economy in the Asean, “Indonesia is now the focus of foreign investors everywhere.”

“By 2014, Indonesia will rank as the world’s ninth-largest market for domestic flights,” the company said. “The potential of the aviation sector in Indonesia is enormous. Alongside its significant domestic traffic, its location at the heart of Southeast Asia gives this market tremendous potential as Asean moves forward with liberalization.”

LAH is a Singapore- and Indonesia-based airline advisory firm with “solid” professional management and proprietary airline financial software analysis tools, and is the foreign partner with technical knowhow and management control of Lite Airways, the company explained.

Abacus’ investment will be coursed through its fully owned subsidiary Tagapo Realty Co. Inc., whose name may be changed to Lite Aviation Philippines Inc. upon the approval of the Securities and Exchange Commission.—Daxim L. Lucas