Central Retail Corp, the shopping unit of one of Thailand’s largest conglomerates, plans to sell shares of at least 67.6bn baht ($2.24bn) in what could become the Southeast Asian nation’s biggest-ever initial public offering.
The company, a part of Central Group, set a preliminary IPO price range for 1.69bn new shares at 40 baht and 48 baht each, according to a regulatory filing with Securities & Exchange Commission.
This puts Central Retail on course to exceed BTS Rail Mass Transit Growth Infrastructure Fund’s 62.5bn baht IPO in 2013, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
At the top end of the range, the market value of Central Retail could be about $9.9bn.
That would rank it third in Asia by market capitalisation among department stores or mass-merchant retailers, after SM Investments Corp in the Philippines and Tokyo-based Pan Pacific International Holdings, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
Thai companies have pushed on with their initial share sales to fund expansion after March polls saw the formation of the first elected government since the 2014 military coup.
Billionaire Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi, Thailand’s richest person, is considering a listing of his brewery business, while PTT Oil and Retail planned to kick off its IPO process in the first half of 2020.
Central Retail, controlled by the Chirathivat family, will issue some IPO shares to the shareholders of its shopping mall unit Robinson Pcl under a share swap agreement.
The company plans to delist Robinson from the Thai stock exchange and has priced Robinson’s shares at 66.5 baht each.
The IPO will be offered between January 29 and February 11, Central Retail said.
It may sell an additional 169mn shares as the green-shoe option if investors’ demand surges.
The proceeds will be used to repay debt and finance expansion in Thailand and foreign countries, the company said.
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