Sersol venture into private jet charter services via JV with Thai MJets

KUALA LUMPUR (June 30): Sersol Bhd is partnering Thailand’s private jet charter services provider MJets Ltd to venture into the private aviation industry.

Both parties entered into a heads of agreement (HOA) to form a 50:50 joint venture (JV) company that offers aircraft charter services, ground handling services, aircraft management and bring in new fleet of private jets into Malaysia and Indonesia, Sersol said in a statement.

Sersol, whose principal activities involve coatings, thinners and industrial chemicals, said the collaboration is expected to improve travel options at competitive prices.

Its managing director Datuk Justin Lim believes the JV could tap into the increasing demand preference for private charters by high-net-worth individuals, especially after the pandemic, many passengers worldwide are seeking safer ways to travel without complications of being exposed to infections.

“We believe the private jet charter aviation sector offers a blue ocean opportunity to enter Malaysia and Indonesia’s aviation sector. There is increasing demand within differentiated market segments desiring safe and reliable travel options easing travel complications,” he said.

Both parties are expected to enter into a definite agreement by July, Lim said, although he did not reveal the budgeted investment needed for this venture.

“As this is just the HOA, we will be going into a definite agreement in a very short period of time, so that is when we will reveal the figures. Definitely we are looking into procuring a fleet of jets, to increase from MJets’ current fleet size,” he told reporters after the HOA signing ceremony on Thursday (June 30).

“We are hoping to tie everything up by July, I don’t think we need much time, because MJets is already operating in a few ASEAN countries,” he said.

To fund this venture, Lim said management has plans for further fund-raising exercises, on top of the group’s ongoing private placement exercises that aim to raise as much as RM26.49 million.

Sersol recorded a net loss of RM338,000 for the first quarter ended March 31, 2022 (1QFY22) versus a net profit of RM215,000 a year ago as raw material costs increased, despite revenue only falling marginally by 0.6% on-year to RM4.34 million from RM4.36 million.

The group’s deposits, cash and bank balances fell to RM7.7 million as at end-March, from RM8.03 million as at end-2021.

Also present at the press briefing on Thursday was MJets’ chief executive officer Natthapatr Sibunruang, who said demand for the company’s charter jet services is growing strongly by 30% year-on-year for the first six months of this year.

“When countries start opening up, private jet [business] is the first one to grow, not the commercial jet, which takes longer. Last year, we actually flew more than in 2019, and as people start flying again, we believe we could grow more than 50% next year,” he said.

Shares of Sersol settled unchanged at 39 sen, giving it a market capitalisation of RM112.7 million.