Thavich steps down from IFEC, asks Wichai to follow

Thavich Taychanavakul, a major shareholder of SET-listed renewable power producer Inter Far East Energy Corporation Plc (IFEC), announced he has resigned from the board of directors.

The resignation was made after there was no clear sign from the company’s shareholders about whether to appoint him as an executive to help solve the company’s debt default problem.

Mr Thavich also asked Wichai Thavornwattanayong, the current company chairman, to step down to pave the way for the search for a new executive to solve the debt defaults.

The resignation of Mr Thavich was effective immediately as he said he did not have any authority to manage the company, he said in a statement.

Mr Thavich is a managing director of Thai Industrial Estate Ltd, which holds a 200-million-share stake in IFEC. His supporters had proposed to IFEC shareholders recently to vote one of his group to be a board member to help resolve the company’s debt defaults over the next few months.

The group’s plans to settle the debts include selling some assets, such as the Dhara Dhevi Hotel in Chiang Mai or its power plants, as well as borrowing a tranche of money from the global markets.

IFEC defaulted on its debt for the second time in less than a month after failing to pay 200 million baht in bills of exchange (B/Es) owed to Solaris Asset Management Co Ltd.

Earlier, IFEC defaulted on 100 million baht of B/Es owed to Land and Houses Fund Management, a subsidiary of LH Financial Group Plc, that were due in December 2016.

The debt defaults forced the Stock Exchange of Thailand to suspend trade of IFEC shares since Jan 12 until the company comes up with a clarification on debt payment details, causing some shareholders to appeal to executives to seek solutions to the problem.

To solve the B/E defaults in the short term, Mr Thavich said he would sell one power plant to pay off overdue debts.

However, Mr Thavich said he has no plan to sell his stakes in IFEC and there is no proposal from any other party to buy a stake in the company.