KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 17 — AirAsia co-founder Tan Sri Tony Fernandes said the airline’s branding arm is nearing a deal for a backdoor listing on Nasdaq later this year that could value the new entity at about US$1.5 billion (RM7 billion), Bloomberg reported.

The transaction would involve merging the branding unit with a US-listed company and could be announced within the next two months, Fernandes said in an interview in Kuala Lumpur on Friday.