Bad timing for SPRC

At noon, the stock was traded at Bt8.30, below the initial public offering price of Bt9. At 4.54pm, it went down further to Bt8 or 11.11 per cent below IPO price, as the market nosedived due to falling oil prices and poor trade data in China.

The listing of SPRC, a refining company which was owned by Chevron South Asia Holdings Pte Ltd and PTT, has been delayed for some time. It is one of the biggest IPOs this year, with the market capitalisation of Bt39 billion or approximately US$1.08 billion. In raising Bt2.09 billion from the IPO, it offered 1,475.45 million newly issued shares and vendor shares from PTT, consisting of 1,439.72 million shares to the general public via IPO, and 35.73 million shares to SPRC’s executives and employees (ESOP).

SPRC’s three major shareholders after IPO are Chevron South Asia Holdings Pte Ltd (60.56 per cent), Merrill Lynch International as SPRC’s initial purchaser (10.17 per cent), and PTT (5.41 per cent).

The company has refining capacity of 165,000 barrels per day or roughly around 13.2 per cent of Thailand’s refining capacity. SPRC products include liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), premium and regular gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, and fuel oil. It also offered feedstock in petrochemical operations. 

SPRC Chief Executive Officer William Lewis Stone said that the listing was a great opportunity for the general public to become part of the next phase of business development with strengthened capital structure.

  Booking Bt6 billion in net profit in the first nine months, the company could feel the pinch from the fresh fall in oil prices. Dubai crude oil ended last week at US$38 per barrel due to oversupplies.