Briefs
Play
SET to take part in Opportunity Day
The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) will join Maybank Kim Eng Securities (Thailand) at the first Opportunity Day, in Chiang Mai, when the top management of listed companies will meet directly with regional investors on May 31 at Centara Duangtawan Hotel from 9am to 4pm.
The companies joining this event include Sahacogen (Chon Buri), Ratchthani Leasing and Universal Adsorbents & Chemicals.
Chanitr Charnchainarong, SET executive vice president and president of the Market for Alternative Investment, said the Opportunity Day series for the first quarter of 2013, scheduled from May 7-June 13, will showcase 104 firms with a combined market capitalisation of Bt 4.1 trillion.
SCCC debenture
Fitch Ratings (Thailand) has assigned Siam City Cement A(tha)/Stable/F1(tha) for two tranches of unsecured and unsubordinated debentures and National Long-term rating of ‘A(tha)’.
The bonds are rated at the same level as SCCC’s National Long-Term rating as they constitute direct, unconditional, unsecured and unsubordinated obligations of the company.
The proceeds will be used to refinance the company’s maturing debentures and fund future capital expenditure. The ratings are as follows:
Up to Bt4 billion unsecured and unsubordinated debentures due 2017: ‘A(tha)’ Up to Bt2 billion unsecured and unsubordinated debentures due 2020: ‘A(tha)’
True assigned “BBB”
TRIS Rating has assigned “BBB-” rating to True Corp’s proposed issue of up to Bt12 billion senior debentures, and has affirmed the company rating of True “BBB”.
The outlook remains “negative”. True plans to use most of the proceeds from the new debentures to repay its existing secured debts. True’s credit ratings reflect the leading position of TRUE as an integrated telecom company and expected support from major shareholders. These strengths are offset by intense competition in core businesses, uncertainties in telecom regulations and on-going litigation concerns, downside risks from mobile segment’s aggressive investments, and the company’s high financial leverage.
The “negative” outlook reflects True’s weakened operating margins and heightened risks facing the mobile segment from the expiry of its 2G concession in 2013. TrueMove’s 2G concession under CAT Telecom will expire in September 2013.
TRT’s backlog orders
Major transformer-maker and distributor Tirathai (TRT) has already clinched backlog orders worth Bt2.1 billion so far. Of the total, Bt179 million is from the Metropolitan Electricity Authority to provide transformers, Bt251 million is from the Provincial Electricity Authority, Bt268 million from the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand, and another Bt865 million from local private firms. It also has Bt256 million export orders.
Managing director Sumpan Vongphan added that the company aims to bid for projects worth Bt6 billion in the second and third quarters, of which it expects to achieve 20 to 25 per cent.
TRT made a net profit of Bt36.81 million in the first quarter against losses of Bt30.39 million over the same period last year. Its sales revenue rose 117.45 per cent to Bt400.71 million in the quarter.
Substation deals
Alstom Grid was recently awarded contracts in Thailand for 500 kilovolts (kV) air-insulated substations in two of the country’s major power plants.
This latest contract follows a combined-cycle power plant project in February and two recent servicing contracts in the country.
Both substation projects were awarded to Alstom by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, for end-user Gulf JP Company (GJP).
BAY denies stake sell-off by GE
Bank of Ayudhya (BAY) has denied that its major shareholder, GE, unloaded shares in the bank for Bt40 apiece after rumours to that effect saw BAY’s stock price surge on Wednesday.
The bank was responding to media reports on Wednesday that the acquisition of GE’s shares in BAY had been completed at a price of Bt40. The stories identified Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group as the buyer.
BAY president Philip Tan insisted that no progress had been made on a deal for GE to sell its stake. Such a deal has been a source of speculation. He also denied that BAY chief executive Janis Van Ekeren had resigned.
Ekeren is in the Cayman Islands, where the bank has a branch, after which she is scheduled to join a road show in the US to meet investors, Tan said.
Sugar millers’ plea
Three Sugar Millers Associations covering all 46 sugar millers nationwide have encouraged the government to include sugar in the first round of the European Union-Thailand Free Trade Agreement (FTA) talks to promote the growth of the sugar industry and boost farmers’ incomes.
A representative of the associations, Cherdpong Siriwit, said that sugar producers are highly supportive of sugar-trade liberalisation under the FTA, as the EU is a major market. The government could include sugar as a priority product for tariff elimination under an early-harvest scheme, Cherdpong said, adding that Thailand could offer a compensatory proposal in exchange for the waiver of the sugar-import fee.
CTH network
Cable Thai Holdings (CTH) and TOT have signed an MoU for the state agency to replace CTH's existing conventional cable network with a fibre optic network totalling 300,000 ports, of which 30 per cent would be in Bangkok. The installation cost would be Bt10,000 per port. TOT is expected to finish the installation by the end of September.
