Thai new listings soar amid rally in SET index

BANGKOK: Rich Sport Pcl is aptly named for investors who received shares in its initial public offering (IPO). The stock surged as much as 36% on its debut Friday, another sign of an improving IPO outlook in Thailand.

Thai IPOs have rebounded from a fouryear low, with recent listings soaring amid a rally in the benchmark SET index.

That’s giving companies an unexpected opportunity to raise funds at higher valuations, compared with a prolonged period of range bound trading earlier in the year.

Prior to Rich Sport, four new listings in November climbed an average 34% above their IPO prices on the first day of trading. The benchmark SET Index is up about 8% since the start of August, and recently hit the highest level since 1994, data from the stock exchange shows.

The next major listing will be Gulf Energy Development Pcl, which on Thursday said it plans to raise at least 21.3 billion baht (US$644mil) in the IPO.

That would be the biggest IPO in more than two years, according to the stock exchange’s data.

“The floodgates for IPOs appear to be open as most companies are rushing to take advantage of higher equity prices and improving investor sentiment,” said Chaipatr Srivisarvacha, chief executive officer of KT Zmico Securities Pcl.

The next few weeks are likely to be a busy period for listings, he added.

Eight companies raised about 17 billion baht from IPOs so far this quarter, taking the total for 2017 to 68 billion baht, according to Bloomberg calculations based on data compiled by the stock exchange.

That exceeds the 52.8 billion baht raised in 2016. A total of 39 companies and other securities, such as real estate investment trusts, will list by the end of the year, compared with 28 so far in 2017, according to Santi Kiranand, who heads up the new listings department at the Stock Exchange of Thailand in Bangkok. — Bloomberg