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PTT chief executive Pailin Chuchottaworn reported to the Stock Exchange of Thailand yesterday that the company’s board had resolved on Tuesday to accept in principle a proposal from Vayupak Fund 1 to buy 210 million shares in Bangchak Petroleum – equivalent to 15.25 per cent of the outstanding stock – from PTT.

The board has assigned the management to handle the details of the share sale, as well as to execute the selling of PTT’s remaining stake in Bangchak.

Vayupak Fund 1, which has a project size of Bt300 billion, is no longer available for subscription by retail investors.

Half of the fund is managed by Krung Thai Asset Management and the other half by MFC Asset Management.

There are 35 subscribers to the fund, comprising mainly the Finance Ministry, which is the largest investor, and state enterprises and state-owned specialised financial institutions.

The purchase of Bangchak stock will be done outside the stock market, with pricing proposed as normal.

AOT gears up for sharp Suvarnabhumi growth

Airports of Thailand (AOT) has forecast that the number of passengers using Suvarnabhumi Airport will rise by 9 per cent to 150,000-160,000 per day in the second quarter.

AOT is preparing for the sharp rise by installing 16 more passport readers and electronic charts, and opening the Transfer Baggage Terminal to serve transit passengers.

It is also set to improve airport taxi services.

The airport served some 12 million passengers during the final quarter of last year, representing a year-on-year fall of 0.57 per cent.

good Thai performance

for Visa last year

Visa cardholder business in Thailand showed strong growth last year, with credit-card payment volume rising 10.6 per cent and e-commerce by 14 per cent, according to Visa (Thailand).

Cash might still be king in Thailand, making up about 80 per cent of consumer expenditure, but card payments are gaining ground, accounting for 17 per cent of total spending last year, the company said.

Visa (Thailand) continued to record strong growth last year despite uneven global economic performance.

The number of Visa credit cards issued in the Kingdom grew by 8.9 per cent from the 2013 level, ahead of the Asia-Pacific average of 5.8 per cent.

Visa credit-card transaction numbers increased by 12 per cent last year compared with an average of 6.4 per cent in Asia-Pacific, while Visa credit-card payment volume climbed 12.7 per cent, against the Asia-Pacific average of 5.2 per cent, said Somboon Krobteeranon, Visa’s country manager for Thailand.

IBank seeks extension

of bus loan project

IBank (Islamic Bank of Thailand) has asked the Finance Ministry to approve the extension of a Bt5-billion loan project to assist public vehicle and bus operators in the five southern border provinces by a further year, in order to alleviate the problem of late delivery of vehicles and buses.

The ministry will consider including IBank’s request in the preparation of the 2016 fiscal budget, it said.