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The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) welcomes Bangkok Airways pcl, Thailand’s premium regional boutique airline operator, on its main board on November 3, under the ticker symbol "BA", with a market capitalization at the initial public offering (IPO) price of THB 52.5 billion (approx. USD 1.62 billion), making it Thailand’s biggest IPO this year.
SET Executive Vice President Chanitr Charnchainarong said that Bangkok Airways (BA) will be listed on SET’s Transportation & Logistics sector. BA operated fully integrated airline services under the brand “Bangkok Airways.” Operating domestic flights in 14 destinations and international flights in 13 destinations, it has also held code share agreement with other 14 airlines. In addition, BA operated airline-related businesses under its subsidiaries including airports, ground handling services, air-cargos and airline-catering.
Bangkok Airways has a paid-up registered capital of THB 2.1 billion, consisting of 1,580 million existing shares and 520 million newly-issued shares, with a par value of THB 1.00 each. The company offered the new shares through an IPO during October 14-17 at THB 25 per share for a total of THB 13 billion. Bualuang Securities pcl is the company's financial advisor and lead underwriter.
Puttipong Prasarttong-Osoth, BA president said, “IPO proceeds raised will be used to strengthen the company’s finance and support growth, such as to increase the airline’s fleet size and replace existing aircraft, to purchase spare parts and other provisions relating to fleet adjustment. It will also be utilized for the construction of an aircraft hangar at Suvarnabhumi international airport, the enhancement of Samui International Airport, as well as working capital for business operations.”
BA's three major shareholders after the IPO are Prasarttong-Osoth family (71.9 percent), CREDIT SUISSE (SINGAPORE) LIMITED (3.2 percent), BTS Group Holdings pcl (0.9 percent) and Bangkok Dusit Medical Services pcl (0.9 percent). According to the prospectus, existing shareholder will sell 165 million vendor shares (8 percent of total) on Big-Lot board on first trading day to private placement. The IPO prices were determined by book building with price-to-earnings ratio (P/E) of 166.67 times, calculated by using the net profit in the past 12 months (or 312.87 million), divided by the number of fully-diluted shares (2,100 million shares), representing earnings per share of THB 0.15. BA's dividend payment policy is no less than 50 percent of net profit after taxes and reserves.
