AirAsia chief Tony Fernandes sees himself as Asia's answer to Virgin Group chairman Richard Branson or easyJet founder Stelios Haji-Ioannou. But he has a problem: how to fund his grand plans.

Since taking Asia's biggest low-cost airline public and to profit in just six years, Fernandes, like Stelios and Branson, has leveraged his brand and fame to branch into new businesses, from budget hotels to online financial services and games.

But most of Fernandes' fortune of at least US$230 million is trapped in ringgit-denominated stock of AirAsia - stock that no one outside Malaysia wants because the ringgit is not traded overseas.

Stelios funded his expansion into businesses like Internet cafes, cars and cinemas with shares of his European no-frills airline easyJet when it went into orbit after going public; Fernandes cannot do the same with AirAsia.

Malaysia says the ringgit will not be traded offshore anytime soon, though analysts say the policy deters foreign funds from investing in the country.

Even with AirAsia shares underperforming the broader Malaysian market this year, despite a six-fold rise in quarterly profit, Fernandes says he is not fazed.

"I don't see that as a problem," said the 43-year-old former record industry executive.

"I'm very much an organic growth sort of person. You sometimes buy a lot of trouble by acquisitions. If you buy another airline using your equity you're inheriting all their culture and all their issues," he added.

That is assuming Fernandes buys another airline. But his new hotel and airline ventures, so far funded with shareholders' funds and private equity, could later need money. Lots of it.

"Everyone in Asia is focused on building six-star hotels - the biggest, the tallest, the fanciest. But there's a huge market that's under-served," Fernandes said.

"That's what I targeted from my experience in AirAsia. I saw a huge opportunity in the hotel market for truly low-budget hotels."

Some analysts say Fernandes should tread more cautiously.

"Fernandes seems to be expanding too fast," said Tan Teng Boo, chief executive of listed investment firm iCapital, which manages 700 million ringgit in funds in Malaysia and Singapore.

"But AirAsia seems to be on a firmer footing now, so maybe it's time for him to add on a few more businesses."

Fernandes' long-haul budget airline, AirAsia X, is now capitalized at US$20 million, his online financial service Tune Money at US$10 million and his budget Tune Hotels at US$10 million.

"My businesses have all required small amounts of capital," he said. "That may sound weird when you're talking about buying 150 planes or building 200 hotels, but they don't all have to be equity-financed."

Some fund managers wonder if the new ventures could distract Fernandes from his main AirAsia business. "Frankly, I'm a little worried," said a Singapore-based fund manager who helps manage US$2 billion in Asian assets.

"There are a lot of things to do yet with AirAsia and he may be doing a little too much at the moment," said the fund manager, who does not own AirAsia shares because he feels they are too expensive for his firm's risk profile.

Fernandes says his role in the new ventures is merely as a public relations figurehead and visionary, and not as a manager.

His funding plan for AirAsia X is also becoming a little clearer - he has said a reverse takeover for growth could be possible, and even named Malaysian investment advisory firm ECM Libra Avenue as a potential candidate.

"Our planes are debt-financed. Our hotel properties can be either REIT-like structures or debt financed as well. And Tune Money doesn't need a lot of money," he said. "I've used a lot of technology to drive costs down."

Fernandes was born in an upper-middle-class family, went to Tupperware parties with his business-minded mother and studied at Epsom College before going to the London School of Economics.

He worked for two years as a financial controller for Branson's Virgin and later became regional vice-president at Warner Music Group, helping sign local acts. But he grew wary of the politicking and cautious of the dotcom bubble, and cashed in his stock options to gamble his nest egg on an indebted AirAsia. So far, the gamble has paid off.

AirAsia makes wads of cash - 227 million ringgit in 2006, almost four times as much as in 2005 - giving him the wherewithal to expand.

"People say, what practice did he have? He came from the record industry!" said Fernandes. "But he went out and did it. It's not just about money."