Tokyo Gas ends share purchase in power plant
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Tokyo Gas Asia has completed the acquisition of a 28-per-cent interest in Eastern Power and Electric Company, which owns and operates a natural-gas-fired power plant in Thailand, from Total Gas & Power Thailand.
This marks the first opportunity for Tokyo Gas to participate in the power-generation business in Southeast Asia.
The power plant is located in Bang Bo district, about 50 kilometres east of Bangkok in Samut Prakan province.
Tokyo Gas Group, while taking advantage of its long-standing technology and know-how relating to energy infrastructure development, says it will continue to expand its overseas business under its “Challenge 2020 Vision” initiative.
With regional focuses on Southeast Asia and North America, it intends to be competitive across the entire LNG (liquefied natural gas) value chain by |taking measures such as forming alliances with local energy |companies.
B Grimm Power submits IPO filing
B Grimm Power, one of largest players in Thailand’s SPP (small power producer) programme, has submitted its application to the Securities and Exchange Commission for an initial public offering of 810 million shares.
The IPO proceeds will be invested in its power plants, both in Thailand and overseas.
Company president Preeyanart Soontornwata said yesterday that| the filing to the SEC was on September 22.
Phatra Securities, Kasikorn Securities and Bualuang Securities serve as the financial advisers.
The company owns and operates 27 commercial power plants – 11 combined-cycle co-generation plants, 15 solar plants and one diesel-fuelled plant.
Combined electricity-generating capacity is 1.5 gigawatts and steam capacity is 350 tonnes per hour.
Tackling inequality vital, World Bank says
Extreme poverty worldwide continues to fall despite the lethargic state of the global economy, but given projected growth trends, reducing high inequality may be a necessary component to reaching the world’s goal of ending extreme poverty by 2030, according to the World Bank.
According to the inaugural edition of “Poverty and Shared Prosperity” – a new series that will report on the latest and most accurate estimates and trends in global poverty and shared prosperity annually – nearly 800 million people lived on less than US$1.90 (Bt65.75) a day in 2013.
That is about 100 million fewer extremely poor people than in 2012.
Progress on extreme poverty was driven mainly by East Asia and the Pacific, especially China and Indonesia, and by India.
Half of the world’s extreme poor now live in sub-Saharan Africa, and a third live in South Asia.
In 60 of the 83 countries covered by the report, average incomes went up for people living in the bottom 40 per cent of their countries from 2008-13, despite the financial crisis.
These countries represent 67 per cent of the world’s population.
