Duck meat company to relist on SET
Bangkok Ranch Plc (BR), the largest producer of duck meat for both Thailand and the Netherlands, expects to raise 2 billion baht from its initial public offering (IPO) to pave the way for the company to relist on the local bourse.
The company has priced its 360.4 million IPO shares, 228 million of which are newly issued and the rest sold by existing shareholders, at 8.80 baht apiece, founder and chief executive Joseph Suchaovanich said.
Of the IPO shares, 348.85 million or 96.8% will be allocated to institutional and retail investors and customers and the rest to shareholders, management and employees.
Most of the proceeds from the IPO will be used to build a large slaughterhouse and duck meat processing factory, expected to be ready in 18 months. Bualuang Securities, SCB Securities and CIMB Securities are serving as the lead underwriters.
The IPO shares are being sold from July 3-8, with the stock debuting again on the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) on July 15.
The company was delisted from the SET in 2009 after it took a hit from its foreign-denominated debt burden after Thailand abandoned the fixed US-dollar regime for a managed-float system on July 2, 1997, the start of the Asian financial crisis.
“BR also plans to expand into Indonesia, Vietnam and China, whose combined population is more than 1.6 billion. The quality of life in these countries is improving thanks to strong economic growth,” Mr Joseph said. “We’re also eyeing more developed countries to increase our revenue.”
BR exports half its duck meat to more than 20 markets including Japan, Britain, France and Hong Kong.
Its Dutch subsidiary, Duck-To Holding BV, is the largest integrated duck meat company in the Netherlands, which is the third-largest duck exporting country in the euro zone.