AMATA

Amata expands industrial estates as Chinese flock in – Amata Corp, Thailand’s major developer and manager of factory estates, is set to expand its industrial zones to cater to Chinese investors, who are expected to set up 300 to 500 plants in its zones in the next five years. (The Nation, 03/07/13)

Comment: Well AMATA has a straightfwd biz model, owns land, sells it, done, we’d rather wait for a crisis to appear before going back into here

BANPU

BANPU’s new deal — Australia-based Centennial Coal, a mining unit of BANPU, will supply coal for Origin Energy’s power plant for eight years, beginning July 1 next year. Centennial has agreed to sell up to 24.5mn tonnes of coal throughout the term of the contract. (Bangkok Post, 03/07/13)

Comment: Banpu still isn’t at the levels that we consider it attractive, we’ve commented here enough times that since they sold off a portion of their business their earnings won’t recover and combined with the continuing decline in coal prices we’re not looking @ this at all, not until it goes below 200

BAY

Japanese bank in BAY stake bid — Japan’s biggest bank, the Bank of TokyoMitsubishi UFJ (BTMU), plans to buy as much as 75% of Thailand’s fifth-largest bank, Bank of Ayudhya (BAY), in a deal worth up to Bt177bn. BTMU has signed a share tender agreement with GE Capital International Holdings Corporation regarding its shareholding in BAY, the Japanese bank said in a filing to the Tokyo Stock Exchange yesterday. Under the agreement, the subsidiary of the Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group will launch a voluntary tender offer for BAY shares at Bt39/share. About ¥560bn (Bt173bn)will be required for the offer if all of BAY’s shares except those held by the Ratanarak Group are tendered and purchased. GE Capital will participate and tender its entire shareholding of 1.538 billion shares or 25.33% of BAY’s total outstanding shares in the offer. If the Ratanarak Group, a major shareholder in BAY, does not tender its 25%stake, then BTMU will purchase a maximum of 75% of BAY’s total outstanding shares in the offer, as it does not set any minimum or maximum acceptance condition for the tender offer. Once the offer is completed, the Japanese bank will become the major shareholder in BAY and a partner the Ratanarak Group in developing the bank’s operations. The new shareholder and BAY will have discussions on collaboration in various fields to strengthen their strategic partnership. To meet Bank of Thailand regulations, both banks will seek to merge their Bangkok branches, as the rule allows foreign banks to have only a single presence in Thailand. “Such integration, once agreed, will take place following the voluntary tender offer completion,” said BTMU. (Bangkok Post, 03/07/13)

Comment: Great deal for GE!

NNCL

Ups revenue target — NNCL expects its revenue for 2013 to grow by more than 10% instead of only 10% after land sales have increased, with Bt100mn worth of land to be transferred, pushing its 2Q13 revenues and profits. The company is also speeding up to find 1,000 rai of new land in the eastern region this year. (Khao Hoon, 03/07/13)

PTT: Anti-corruption probe. A group of petitioners had asked the House of Representatives’ anti-corruption committee to look into whether Dr Pailin had breached a 1975 law governing the qualification of board directors and employees of state enterprises. This prompted the audit committee chaired by PTT acting chairman Chulasingh Vasantasingh to probe the case. One condition in the law states that executives of state enterprises must dedicate themselves full-time to their positions. The audit committee will rule on 12 July whether Pailin violated state-enterprise rules and regulations by becoming an independent director of F&N. It is expected to submit a conclusion to the PTT board on 26 July. Pailin accepted an invitation from F&N in February to be a director, but it did not stir criticism until last month – after he had stepped down. The audit committee was asked to conduct an inquiry only when the petition was filed. (Source: The Nation)

Comment: I find this quite silly, having met K. Pailin a few times over the years, he most definitely comes across as an incredibly capable CEO for such a large organisation, my guess is this is purely internal politics to get him out. It would be an absolutely stupid move.

PTTGC

Standing by year’s growth target — Despite the decrease sales in China, PTTGC maintains its target growth for the year of 4-5%, in line with Thailand’s GDP growth, as it expects demand to be supported by the local market and ASEAN countries. It expects 2Q13 revenues to grow more than the previous quarter due to higher HDPE prices that jumped to US%1,460/ton compared to the same period last year of US$1,300. (Tun Hoon, 03/07/13)

RS

RS says business growth in line with target — RS said that its business is growing in line with its growth target for the year. 1H13 revenues grew more than 20%, with its satellite TV business to grow by 100%. It expects to reap revenues of Bt1.1bn over the next five years. (Khao Hoon, 03/07/13)

Comment: One of the main beneficiaries for the upcoming digital tv era

TRUE

True makes bold debt slash prediction — True Corporation set an ambitious goal to slash its net DE ratio by more than half this year through the launch of an infrastructure fund and a series of financial recapitalization programs. TRUE expects consolidated revenue of Bt75bn this year, up 20% from last year. It projects True Move to break even in the final quarter of this year, thanks to more 3G customers. The final full-year financial result for True Group will remain in the red. (Bangkok Post, 03/07/13)

Comment: Is this recap #4? #5? #6? Don’t know lost track, its still a stock that should be trading below 0.00

TICON: To set up a REIT. TICON will set up a REIT in Oct 13 instead of selling assets to property funds. The REIT will invest in 30-year leasehold factories and warehouses for Bt6b. The assets include 38 factories with total usable area of 104,175sqm in eastern and central Thailand as well as 51 warehouses with total usable area of 182,405sqm in Bangna and Amata Nakorn industrial estates. The REIT structure is allowed to leverage up to 60% vs 10% of NAV for property funds. (Source: TICON) 

Comment: Love their business, the company hasn’t been able to hit its growth rates of 2003-2007 purely because they’ve been so successful and now the base is higher.