Investor calls for legal action

He made the call after finding out that the rehabilitation manager had negotiated with Asset Million, owner of World Gas (Thailand), to sell stakes in World Gas to World Siam Group.

World Gas was 99.99 per cent held by Picnic Corp and its ownership passed on to Asset Million after Picnic entered the bankruptcy process in 2008. Since then, there has been a scramble for ownership of Asset Million between two groups of investors.

Under the arrangement, Picnic can seek the court's nod to exit the rehabilitation plan once the company finds new investors to make the Bt1.7-billion payment to creditors in a debt-equity swap.

Picnic's rehabilitation manager signed a memorandum of understanding with a group of investors led by Pimol Srivikorn and Wichai but the rehabilitation manager later rejected the plan and negotiated with Asset Million instead.

Wichai said his group still intended to inject new funds amounting to Bt1.7 billion in Picnic Corp under the Picnic rehabilitation plan. But the group found unusual monetary transactions. He said the minor stakeholders of Picnic, the Department of Special Investigation (DSI), the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Stock Exchange of Thailand and the public should be aware of it.

Wichai said his group would provide information to the DSI soon and seek an investigation into the rehabilitation manager.

He said his legal team found that one of the directors on the board of Picnic Corp used to hold 41 per cent in World Siam before selling out on August 22. The transaction was completed before Picnic approached the court on August 31, seeking permission to negotiate with Asset Million.

He said the rehabilitation-plan manager attempted to sell World Gas to World Siam Group after the Phra Khanong court ruled on August 9 that the actual shareholder of Asset Million was Wimonrat Kuldiloke, wife of Deputy Transport Minister Pol Lt-General Chatt Kuldiloke. Wimonrat holds a 100-per-cent equity stake in Asset Million, which holds a 100-per-cent stake in World Gas.

Wichai said Picnic reported later that it would find new investors, and one of the investors is World Gas.

Wichai also called on creditors of Picnic, including Krung Thai Bank and United Overseas Bank (Thai), to take legal action against the rehabilitation-plan manager.

 He said his group was still interested in investing in Picnic but it depended on the creditors whether they want this investment.

He said the case had gone beyond expectations because before deciding to invest, the group had monitored only the possibility of investment and the future of Picnic's business.

"We don't consider Picnic's business structure to be complicated, but the trouble in the case comes from people, not the business. We believe that if our group invests in Picnic, we can help Picnic shares gain value again, and this would benefit all stakeholders," he said.

The rehabilitation managers have attempted to block the group of new investors from sitting on the board of Picnic Corp, while the creditors are likely not urging the debtor to reshuffle the board of directors.

Picnic had previously informed Krung Thai Bank, its creditor, that the investor group of Pimol Srivikorn and Wichai had not injected Bt1.7 billion as promised before the September 1 deadline.