VIETNAM PLANS IPO FOR REFINERY NEXT YEAR
Vietnam aims to privatise its US$3-billion (Bt100 billion) Dung Quat oil refinery by June 2017, with energy companies from Thailand, Russia and Kuwait expressing interest in taking a strategic stake, the head of the refinery’s operator said yesterday.
A strategic investor could buy up to 49 per cent in Binh Son.
The government has set a timetable for the domestic IPO to be completed by June 30 next year.
Thailand’s PTT, Rosneft, Russia’s biggest oil producer, Gazprom Neft (GPN), and the Kuwait Petroleum Corp have expressed interest in buying stakes in Dung Quat, the official said. – Reuters
RICE WORTH BT7.2 BN SOLD
The Rice Policy Management Committee approved the sale of nearly 754,000 tonnes of rice worth Bt7.2 billion to 11 traders from the latest rice auction, where 1 million tonnes were up for bid.
Duangporn Rodphaya, director-general of the Commerce Ministry’s Foreign Trade Department, said the fact that 75 per cent of the auction volume was approved for sale reflected good demand in the market. Thus the rice price should not fall much.
From the total 753,571 tonnes approved for sale, the government sold 702,615 tonnes of consumption-grade rice for Bt6.91 billion.
It also approved the sale of 52,397 tonnes of degraded rice worth Bt287 million for the industrial sector. A total of 255,796 tonnes of industrial-grade rice had been up for bid.
Duangporn said the government would suspend open bidding for rice for the time being, but would continue with government-to-government contracts, such as with China, the Philippines and Indonesia.
TFG ‘TO BEAT TARGET’
Thaifoods Group (TFG), which is in the vertically integrated food-production business, is confident that its revenue this year will be higher than the Bt20 billion as targeted, thanks to expected strong sales in the domestic and international markets, said chief operating officer Chirdsak Kukiattinun.
It posted net profit of Bt872 million in the first half of this year after losses of Bt1.57 billion last year. It attributed the improvement to its successful cost reductions and improved production efficiency.
TOT OUTLINES PLAN
TOT hopes to be earning annual revenue close to Bt20 billion within six to seven years from its new fourth-generation service on the 2.3-gigahertz spectrum, said the state agency’s president, Monchai Noosong.
Yesterday he spoke to TOT employees about the agency’s business plan for the 2.3GHz spectrum, which is intended to be a new source of revenue.
He said TOT’s strategy was to divide the 60 megahertz it holds on the 2.3GHz spectrum into three parts.
The first part, 20 per cent of the available spectrum, will be used to operate a fixed broadband service to support the government policy of bridging the digital divide. This part will generate revenue of only Bt100 million a year initially before reaching annual revenue of between Bt3 billion and Bt4 billion seven years from now.
On the second part, also using 20 per cent of total capacity, TOT will run its own business model to provide service to customers. It expects about Bt4 billion in annual revenue from this part seven years from now.
