Ingress considers expansion
Ingress Industrial Thailand Plc is looking into the feasibility of investing and expanding its auto parts manufacturing in Thailand, Indonesia and India during 2017-19 once it lists on the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) by August.
President and chief executive Abdul Rahim Haji Hitam said the expansion plans will be concluded within this year.
Ingress Thailand is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Malaysia-based holding company, Ingress Corporation Berhad (ICB).
Founded i n 2014, Ingress Thailand operates as an automotive components manufacturing base for ICB in Asean and India.
ICB runs 10 manufacturing plants for automotive components in Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and India, all of which are managed by Ingress Thailand.
Some 90% of the components are tiers 1 and 2 and supply automakers in each country, mainly Japanese brands.
“Ingress is confident there is more room to grow in the automotive industry in these three countries given the sheer size of annual production,” Mr Abdul Rahim said.
Thailand made 1.94 million units last year, followed by Indonesia at 1.18 million and Malaysia at 545,253. India made 4.5 million cars in 2016.
The company refused to disclose the investment figures, saying only that the budget will be partially funded by proceeds raised on the SET in the third quarter.
Ingress Thailand submitted its application to list on the SET in December last year, with the issuance of 578 million shares through an initial public offering (IPO).
The listing will make it the first foreign firm to be listed on the SET.
Maybank Kim Eng Securities Thailand is its financial adviser and underwriter.
Ingress Thailand has registered capital of 1.2 billion baht, all of which is paid up. After the IPO, the company will see paid-up capital increase to 1.45 billion baht, with shares of ICB being diluted to 60%.
Ingress Thailand aims to have its first trading day on the stock market on Aug 9.
According to Mr Abdul Rahim, 50% of the proceeds from the IPO will be used for expansion and debt repayment.
He added its revenue in the fiscal year will rebound for the first time after contracting for three consecutive year thanks to bullish automotive industry prospects.