Toyo-Thai, two others ink MoU on power generation ventures
Toyo-Thai Corporation yesterday signed a memorandum of understanding with Korea Midland Power Co and Nava Nakorn Land to collaborate on domestic and international turnkey electricity-generation business worth a total of Bt10 billion.
They also signed a tentative contract to buy stocks of Nava Nakorn Electricity Co, which is a joint venture between Nava Nakorn Land and Toyo-Thai, in the future.
Kobchai Tahnasukarn, Toyo-Thai general manager for finance and investment relations, said the partners’ first project under the MoU would be the Nava Nakorn electricity-generation plant, which is a joint venture between Nava Nakorn Land and Toyo-Thai. It is a 110-megawatt project with a total investment cost of Bt6 billion. It is expected to be completed by the middle of next year. Toyo-Thai will hold 71 per cent. Negotiations are in progress to determine what percentage Korea Midland will hold.
The electricity business in Thailand is projected to grow dramatically. With regards to collaborating with Korea Midland on foreign projects, the companies are currently planning to bid on a massive solar project in Burma.
Korea Midland operates and maintains power plants and also acts as a technical consultancy. It has significant experience developing environmentally friendly power projects.
Korea Midland is recognised globally as a clean power company and produces 10,000MW from projects it operates in many countries in Southeast Asia, the Middle East, India and the United States, as well as in South Korea where it is based. The company enjoys an A-list ranking from Standard & Poor’s and A1 from Moody’s.
This proposed business collaboration is expected to help support future business endeavours and benefit all three parties.
With regards to Toyo-Thai, Kobchai said the joint venture would help strengthen the company in the high-potential energy industry. It now has a backlog of Bt20 billion in various projects, the most in the company’s history, and is in the process of bidding on further projects in Thailand and abroad with an estimated value of Bt50 billion.
Currently the company operates three branch offices, in Burma, Malaysia and the United States. Last June, it won a Bt6-billion mining contract in Malaysia. Toyo-Thai expects to earn profit of Bt1.8 billion this year and Bt3.6 billion next year. In addition, it is expected the company will be awarded more contracts in Malaysia and in the US, where the company is working on a petroleum and petrochemical project in Texas.
Kobchai said that next year, the company predicts revenue of Bt10 billion, a 40-per-cent increase over this year’s Bt7.5 billion. International operations account for 60 per cent of revenue, with the rest generated domestically.
