Lai See | Hong Kong Airlines late again, as IPO application lapses

What can we say about Hong Kong Airlines' efforts at an initial public offering? It would be tempting to say "late again". Its application to the Hong Kong stock exchange lapsed on Monday as it hadn't filed the requisite documents. It was hoping to raise US$500 million, which you would have thought would be handy given its difficulties in making payments over the years.

In 2012 the Airport Authority Hong Kong barred it from using the aerobridges at the airport as it was significantly behind in its payments to the authority. The cabin crew in addition to their normal duties had to clean the aircraft cabin to save money on hiring cleaners. Possibly they should be grateful they didn't have to push the aircraft back as well. Its apparent difficulties over cash were always a mystery since its parents Hainan Airlines, apparently has deep pockets.

It also had a reputation for poor service, such as putting the wrong departure time on tickets, forcing disgruntled passengers to go to the small claims court, and arbitrarily cancelling flights. These were described to as "teething" problems by the airline, though at the time they seemed more like "death throes".

That said. we see that at last year's Skytrax World Airline Awards, it won the award for the World's Most Improved Airline. Hey, maybe everything's changed? But letting an IPO slot lapse doesn't seem smart unless it thinks it can raise more money from the sale of its shares later. The company hasn't offered an explanation.

We see that Nirvana Asia - the largest integrated death-care services provider in Asia, as it likes to describe itself, has made an acquisition since its IPO on the Hong Kong stock exchange in December.