FRIDAY, March 29, 2024
nationthailand

PTTOR launches IPO to raise up to Bt54 billion to fund expansion

PTTOR launches IPO to raise up to Bt54 billion to fund expansion

PTT Oil and Retail Business (OR) will launch an initial public offering (IPO) to raise up to Bt54 billion in funds late this month.

Last week, OR set the price of its 3 billion IPO shares (including 390 million overallotment shares) at between Bt16 and Bt18 per share, which will help raise between Bt48 billion and Bt54 billion.

OR will also offer 300 million shares to specific PTT shareholders from January 25 to 28, 595.7 million shares to individual investors from January 24 to February 2, and 1.71 billion shares to cornerstone institutional investors from February 3 to 5.

Of the 1.71 billion shares, 1.26 billion will be offered to domestic institutional investors and 450 million shares to international institutional investors.

Among cornerstone investors, the domestic institutional investor that will obtain the most IPO shares is SCB Asset Management with 239 million shares, while the international institutional investor that will obtain the most shares is GIC Private Limited with 215 million shares.

After launching the IPO, OR's registered capital will rise to 12 billion shares from 9 billion, and the company will be listed in the SET50 index with a market capitalisation of at least Bt200 billion.

PTT will remain the largest shareholder with a 75 per cent stake, followed by institutional investors with a 14.29 per cent stake.

According to the Securities and Exchange Commission, this fundraising aims to support OR's five-year expansion plan, such as increasing the number of PTT stations, fuel distribution centres, retail stores and overseas business. The company will use the funds to repay loans and invest in new businesses.

An analyst from Asia Plus Securities said he did not expect the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) to face volatility once OR is listed in February because the company’s market capitalisation will only account for about 5 per cent of total energy shares in the market.

He added that Com7 and TTW will be delisted from SET50 Index, while Taokaenoi Food & Marketing (TKN), BEC World (BEC), Major Cineplex Group (MAJOR) and WHA Utilities and Power (WHAUP) will be delisted from SET100 index after OR’s listing.

UOB Kay Hian Securities strategist Kitpon Pripisankit said the price of OR's IPO is equal to forward price-to-earnings (forward P/E) ratio of 16-18 times, lower than the forward P/E ratio of oil retail business of 17-20 times and non-oil business of 25-28 times.

“Institutional investors' demand for OR shares would be higher than allocated, because large companies shares are attractive," he said.

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