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Fitch affirms ratings for CP All, bonds
Fitch Ratings (Thailand) has affirmed CP All’s national long-term rating at “A+(tha)” with “stable” outlook. The agency also affirmed the company’s national short-term rating at “F1(tha)” and the rating on its outstanding secured bonds at “A+(tha)”.
The secured bonds are rated at the same level as CP All’s national long-term rating as the bonds and its existing secured loans are secured on a similar basis. Both together represent more than 90 per cent of its total debt.
CP All is the largest operator in Thailand’s convenience-store business, with more than 7,800 7-Eleven stores nationwide. It has a market share of about 60 per cent of all convenience stores in the country, far more than the second-largest operator, Fitch noted.
SME Bank due diligence
The Small and Medium Enterprise Development Bank of Thailand has hired Ernst & Young to conduct due diligence of assets and liabilities. The due diligence is expected to be completed by next month.
SME Bank currently bears a high proportion of non-performing loans, at 38 per cent of the total.
Mission to Malaysia
The Foreign Trade Department will lead a delegation of Thai food and consumer-goods enterprises to Malaysia for four days beginning today.
Tikhumporn Natvaratat, deputy director-general of the department, said the visit was aimed at promoting cross-border trade and closer economic cooperation.
Expansion before listing
Global Power Synergy Co, a subsidiary of PTT, will acquire more electricity businesses before listing on the stock market, said chairman Surong Bulakul.
“We plan to acquire power businesses both inside and outside the country as a way of making [the company] more attractive to investors before going public,” he said.
He said the company had set a target to triple its total capacity to 6,000 megawatts by 2022 from 1,800MW currently. Of that, about 5-10 per cent will be from alternative energy.
Meanwhile, the project to establish a coal-powered plant with capacity of 1,000-2,000MW near Dawei Industrial Estate is waiting for approval by the Myanmar government.
TUF ‘Rising Star’
Thai Union Frozen Products has received a Thailand’s Corporate Brand Rising Star award, standing out as the highest-growth brand in the agriculture and food sector comprising 46 publicly listed companies.
The awards are based on a research by the faculty of commerce and accountancy, Chulalongkorn University.
PTTEP expands its presence in Brazil
PTT Exploration and Production has acquired 20 per cent of an oil and gas exploration project in Brazil, a month after it struck the first deal in the South American country.
Tevin Vongvanich, president and CEO, said yesterday that PTTEP Brazil Investments in Oil and Gas Exploration and Production, a subsidiary, had agreed to acquire the participating interest from Shell Brasil Petroleo in concession BM-ES-23, subject to the approval of Brazil’s National Agency of Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels.
The concession is located in the Espirito Santo Basin, in deep water off Brazil, covering about 550 square kilometres.
Petrobras, the operator, will hold 65 per cent and Japan’s INPEX 15 per cent. The joint-venture partners plan to conduct exploration and appraisal drilling this year and next.
Sepo seeks change to superboard
The State Enterprise Policy Office (Sepo) plans to propose changing the membership of the so-called superboard for the Cabinet’s consideration at its next meeting.
The State Enterprise Policy Commission, or superboard, will be asked to change the representatives of the Defence, Finance, Transport, Energy and Interior ministries from permanent secretaries to ministers.
The superboard has 17 members.
Kulit Sombatsiri, director-general of Sepo, said yesterday that his office was prodding the Bangkok Mass Transit Authority and the State Railway of Thailand to submit their business rehabilitation plans by the end of this month so that the plans could be forwarded to the superboard for consideration.
Bangkok Airways IPO subscription in Oct
Bangkok Airways expects to open subscriptions to its initial public offering around the middle of next month.
Its shares will commence trading on the Stock Exchange of Thailand by year-end.
President Puttipong Prasarttong-Osoth said yesterday that the IPO would help strengthen the boutique airline’s financial capability and support growth. It plans to offer up to 520 million newly issued shares, or up to 24.8 per cent of all issued and paid-up shares.
The proceeds will be used for fleet expansion, improving or replacing some old aircraft and purchasing engines, spare parts and necessary equipment for the new fleet on par with aviation-industry standards.
Part of the IPO proceeds will be used for renovations of the carrier’s aircraft hangars at Suvarnabhumi Airport and Samui International Airport, he said.
Jakarta joins aviation pact
Indonesia has signed a deal to allow Asean airlines to make unlimited flights to Jakarta, which could lead to cheaper fares and more flight options for travellers.
The move follows a campaign that started about a decade ago to get the 10 Asean nations to remove all restrictions on flights from their countries and push to become one aviation market – similar to the European Union’s “single sky”.
Indonesia had been reluctant to sign the agreement but now that its capital is on board, aviation experts are confident that other Indonesian cities will follow suit.
