KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) – Malaysia’s AirAsia X will raise 75 million dollars by selling a 20 percent stake in the budget carrier to private equity funds from Japan and Bahrain, an airline official said Wednesday.

“The money will be used to fund the purchase of 25 Airbus A330-300 for the long-haul AirAsia X carrier,” the official told AFP.
AirAsia X is expected to announce Thursday the entry of two new investors which comes after British billionaire Richard Branson’s Virgin Group took a 20 percent stake in AirAsia last August.
Branson, founder of Virgin Group, has vowed to pilot the project into profitability.
The official said Japan's top leasing firm, Orix Group and Bahrain's Perigon Capital will each acquire 10 percent stake in AirAsia X.
“With the two new funds coming on board it demonstrates the confidence investors have in AirAsia X to expand,” the official, who declined to be named, said.
AirAsia X has began long-haul flights to Australia and China using one leased aircraft. AirAsia X, an affiliate of AirAsia and Virgin Blue, was launched in January 2007.