Gulf banks on Vietnam investment

Gulf Energy Development Plc, Thailand’s top private power producer by capacity, plans to rack up more revenue this year through its investment expansion in Vietnam by acquiring 70.5% of ordinary shares in Global Mind Investment Management Pte (GMIM) in a deal worth US$40 million, or 1.2 billion baht.

The stock purchase from Nech Opportunities Fund VCC is made through Gulf’s wholly-owned Kolpos Pte, which was incorporated in Singapore but runs businesses in Vietnam, Gulf said in a letter to the Stock Exchange of Thailand yesterday.

“We expect the asset transfer and payment to be completed by the end of January,” said Gulf executive and chief financial officer Yupapin Wangviwat.

GMIM has both direct and indirect investments in renewable energy businesses such as solar, hydropower and wind, as well as infrastructure including cargo ports and warehouses.

Another segment is agriculturerelated business.

Its solar and wind farm power facilities have combined capacity of 375 megawatts.

Ms Yupapin said Gulf projects its power generation capacity to increase by 1,493MW this year, up from 6,409MW last year.

She said the new capacity should lead Gulf’s revenue to grow by 50% to almost 55 billion baht this year.

Ms Yupapin said her company plans to expand its business through both asset acquisitions and new development projects across Asia and Europe.

The acquisition of GMIM is a part of Gulf ’s capital expenditure worth around 100 billion baht allocated over six years to expand power generation from fossil fuel and renewable resources, as well as infrastructure projects.

The capital outlay increases the company’s power generation capacity, based on the proportion of its shareholding, to 8,100MW from 2,960MW at the end of this year, she said.