Briefs

VIETJET Thailand plans to build on what it describes as its successful growth in the Thai domestic air travel market. 
On March 26, it will introduce daily flights, from Phuket to Chiang Rai and increasing its flight frequency from Bangkok to Chiang Mai to three flights daily.
The airline said the move would provide travellers with greater travel opportunities in accessing the North.
Ngugen Thuy Binh, vice president of commercial for Vietjet Group, said in a press release: “Last year marked the official entry of Vietjet into the low-cost domestic travel sector in Thailand. We’ve received very positive feedback from passengers regarding the convenience and value of these services, and we are expecting to augment existing routes with new capacity this year especially a direct flight from Phuket to Chiang Rai from March 26th, 2017 onwards. 
“Other elements of our expansion plan will be to bolster domestic seat availability between Bangkok and other cities around Thailand with new connections to be announced later in the year. Our business remains extremely competitive on price and service, we believe we can offer the most affordable flight tickets of any domestic carrier in Thailand.”
The company also aims to increase the number of business passengers using its services. 
Vietjet said its “affordable” SkyBoss upgrade brings all of the conveniences and luxuries of business class travel to a wider domestic travel audience in Thailand.
“The airline is keen to emphasise its services that are highly suited to Thai business travelers, such as the SkyBoss upgrade, which offers priority check-in and boarding, access to the Vietjet SkyBoss Lounge at Suvarnabhumi Airport, the ability to pick seats on board including premium seats with more legroom and a choice of in-flight meals. It offers a complete suite of superb business class amenities designed to appeal to cost-conscious business flyers,” said Ngugen Thuy Binh, vice president of commercial for Vietjet Group. —The Nation

CIMB Niaga Syariah 
targets 40% growth 
CIMB Niaga Syariah, a sharia unit of private lender CIMB Niaga, has set an optimistic growth target for its financing disbursement in Indonesia this year by boosting its mortgage and Syariah Gold Card, a service similar to the credit card facility offered by CIMB Niaga. 
CIMB Niaga sharia banking director Pandji Djajanegara said financing was expected to increase 40 per cent this year to Rp 14.29 trillion ($1.07 billion, Bt35.5 billion) from last year. The sharia unit aims to channel Rp 3.5 trillion in mortgage financing in 2017 from 2016.
It also targets to see 10,000 new Syariah Gold Card holders every month, eventually bringing the card holder total to 355,000 by the end of 2017 from 235,000 last year.
“We do not plan to expand our 29 existing branches but will focus instead on utilising and equipping our staff at about 500 branches of CIMB Niaga across the country to enable them to sell sharia products to our existing conventional banking customers,” Pandji said.
In 2016, CIMB Niaga Syariah booked Rp 12.78 trillion in assets, an increase of 40.34 percent from the previous year. 
“Initially we did not set the target high but ended with positive results nonetheless. We hope by the end of this year, we can exceed our target,” Pandji said. – The Jakarta Post

San Miguel plans
15-bn peso bond offer
Conglomerate San Miguel Corp plans to raise as much as 15 billion peso from a new public offering of five-year retail bonds.
This is the second issuance under SMC’s three-year bond shelf registration of up to 60 billion peso, of which an initial 20 billion peso had been issued last March 1.
Proceeds from this new offering will mainly be used to refinance obligations, SMC president Ramon Ang said.
In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange yesterday, SMC said it had filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission registration statement for a new offering of at least 10 billion peso in fixed-rate bonds due 2022, with an option to upsize the offering by 5 billion peso.
The bonds will be listed and traded through fixed income trading platform Philippine Dealing & Exchange Corp.
Local credit watchdog Philippine Rating Services Corp (PhilRatings) said it had assigned the highest rating of “PRS Aaa” on this new debt offering by SMC with a “stable” outlook.
Obligations rated “PRS Aaa” are deemed of the highest quality with minimal credit risk. The obligor’s capacity to meet its financial commitment on the obligation is deemed “extremely strong.”
A “stable” outlook, on the other hand, means that the rating was likely to be maintained or to remain unchanged in the next 12 months. – Philippine Daily Inquirer