Thailand is likely to have its first listing by a foreign company as the nation’s stock exchange seeks to revive interest in an equity market that has posted the only outflows in Asia this year.
An overseas company from southeast Asia is expected to have a dual listing in Bangkok this year, Stock Exchange of Thailand executive vice president Santi Kiranand said in an interview on Friday last week, without revealing its identity.
“It will mark another milestone for the Thai stock exchange to have a listing of a foreign company’s stock,” Santi said. “We should expect more to come in the coming years.”
Thailand has been courting overseas governments and companies to sell bonds and stocks while the nation’s benchmark SET index has faltered amid lackluster earnings growth and falling exports.
Foreigners had sold US$1.19 billion of Thai stock this year through last week, the only market in Asia to see outflows in the year to date.
The Thai Securities and Exchange Commission in April approved listings by foreign companies to promote linkages with global and regional markets, while boosting the US$381 billion equity market’s appeal as a place to raise capital.
Regional governments are showing interest in raising funds in Thailand. Myanmar and Bhutan are considering selling baht-denominated bonds and may join Laos, which has sold debt to Thai investors, the Thai finance ministry said.
The nation’s corporate debt sales look set to miss last year’s record as Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha falls short on the military junta’s investment pledges.
Corporate debt sales could dip to 520 billion baht (US$14.9 billion) from last year’s 560 billion baht, according to the Thai Bond Market Association, which said the slowing economy is deterring issuers who rushed to raise funds last year in anticipation of higher US interest rates.
The stock market expects to meet this year’s target of adding about 250 billion baht to its market value via new listings even after the stock market’s retreat, Santi said.
The benchmark index declined 1.5 percent at 12:47pm yesterday. The gauge is in correction territory, having dropped about 12 percent from this year’s peak on Feb. 13.
Seventeen local companies were listed in first half of this year on the Thai stock exchange and the Market for Alternative Investment, a board of small companies, adding about 180 billion baht to the Thai market’s capitalization. About eight other companies, including Star Petroleum Refining, have received approvals for their initial public offerings (IPOs), Santi said.
Star Petroleum, a joint venture between Chevron Corp and PTT, plans to sell as many as 1.9 billion shares in its IPO, according to a regulatory filing.
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