Malaysia-headquartered telecommunications group Axiata Group Bhd said it is in talks with a potential new shareholder for its financial technology (fintech) arm Boost Holdings.
The deal is still pending regulatory approval, and Axiata is not able to disclose the name of the new investor, group Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director Vivek Sood said at an earnings briefing, local media theedgemarkets.com reported on Wednesday.
“We expect by the end of the second quarter of 2025, we should have a new investor in [Boost], which should help us with future funding requirements,” he was quoted as saying.
Boost Holdings is paving its way to profitability with its over-seven-year-old e-wallet business expected to be in the black by this year, The Star reported last month.
Its digital bank, a 60:40 joint venture with RHB Bank Bhd, is expected to breakeven within three-to-five years. The Boost-RHB Digital Bank Consortium was among the 5 successful license applicants announced by Bank Negara in 2022.
Group CEO Sheyantha Abeykoon said Boost’s business is nearing profitability, with its burn rate now under MYR1 million ($225,841).
In 2024, Boost’s gross transaction value (GTV) exceeded MYR5.6 billion compared to MYR 4.9 billion recorded in 2021, which was more than double the GTV in 2019 and 30 percent higher than 2020.
Boost’s ambition is to extend beyond Malaysia, according to Sheyantha.
He said in the report that the company is replicating its financial inclusion model in other Asean markets, including Indonesia and Cambodia.
Axiata is a diversified telecommunications and digital conglomerate operating Digital Telcos, Digital Businesses and Infrastructure businesses across a footprint spanning ASEAN and South Asia.
The group has controlling stakes in market-leading mobile and fixed operators in the region including ‘XL’ and ‘Link Net’ in Indonesia, ‘Dialog’ in Sri Lanka, ‘Robi’ in Bangladesh, and ‘Smart’ in Cambodia while ‘CelcomDigi’ in Malaysia is a Key Associate Company.
Axiata’s regional digital business verticals comprise ‘Boost’ a fintech company, and ‘ADA’, a digital analytics and AI company. ‘EDOTCO’ is among the top 10 independent TowerCos globally, operating in nine countries to deliver telecommunications infrastructure services, information from its Linkedin page showed.