Foreign firms targeted to list on Thai bourse
BANGKOK: Thailand’s leading arranger of initial public offerings (IPOS) since 2021 is targeting companies from neighbouring Vietnam and Cambodia for listing on the Bangkok bourse to counter a slump in domestic stock sales, though nationalism is one obstacle.
Kiatnakin Phatra Bank Pcl is working with several South-east Asian (SEA) firms to tap investors through the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET), said Anuwat Ruamsuke, head of investment banking and capital markets.
While businesses are keen on IPOS and cross-border listing, some regulators in the region are less helpful, he said, without specifying company names or countries.
“Thailand’s market breadth and depth has drawn strong interest for IPOS here because of better valuations,” Anuwat said. “We are trying to expand across regional capital markets using our expertise and leadership in the Thai market.”
Kiatnakin Phatra joins peers such as Bangkok Bank Pcl and Kasikornbank Pcl that aim to expand their footprints, as the Thai economy, SEA’S second-largest, has been one of the region’s slowest-growing for a decade.
Thailand’s ageing population and new competition from financial-technology firms are also hurdles.
Thailand has yet to attract any direct listings of foreign companies since making regional expansion a goal in 2018, citing potential for dual listings, cross listings and depositary receipts for companies already public elsewhere in SEA.
Kiatnakin Phatra helped arrange four IPOS that accounted for Us$849mil (Rm3.8bil) of offerings since the start of 2021, topping rivals ranging from Bangkok Bank to Morgan Stanley, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
This year, though, it’s been a manager for only one such deal, that of Thai Life Insurance Pcl, while advising food producer Betagro Pcl’s plan to raise about 20 billion baht (Rm2.46mil).
Shares of Kiatnakin Phatra have gained 19% in 2022, the second-best performer among the nation’s commercial lenders, compared with a 7% drop in the SET banking index.
The capital-markets business contributed 17% of the firm’s revenue in the first half, with some IPOS postponed, Korakot Sawetkruttamat, an analyst at Kasikorn Securities Pcl, said in a report.
Income from the same unit in the second-half of 2022 “will likely be pressured by an overall continued weak capital market,” the note said.
Of the 17 brokerages that cover the stock, 16, including Kasikorn, recommend a buy, Bloomberg data showed.