Palm oil producer VPO to list on Thai bourse

VPO's palm plantations

By Chalida Ekvitthayavechnukul

November 21, 2014

The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET), will list Vichitphan Palmoil PCL on November 24 under the ticker symbol “VPO” in the agro and food Industry.

VPO, one of Thailand’s major palm oil producers and distributors, had a market capitalisation of 2.538 billion baht ($77.38 million) at its intial public offering (IPO), said SET’s executive vice president Chanitr Charnchainarong.

VPO currently operates two crude palm oil plants in Chumphon province with a total production capacity of 180 tons oil palm kernel per hour. The company also owns three subsidiaries in related businesses, such as oil palm plantation, power plant fueled from production waste, and transportation for palm oil and its by-products.

VPO has a paid-up registered capital of 940 million baht ($28.6 million); consisting of 800 million existing common shares and 140 million newly issued shares, with a par value of THB 1.00, he said.

It offered 236 million shares to the general public via IPO during November 14 and 17-18 at 2.70 baht per share. It marked a total raised IPO fund of 378 million baht ($11.52 million).

The Quant Group was the company’s financial advisor for the IPO. Maybank Kim Eng Securities (Thailand) was financial advisor and underwriter for the same.

Krisada Chavananand, managing director of VPO, said that it would spend around 70% of the IPO fund on repaying debt and the rest would be used as working capital to expand business.

Earlier, VPO had borrowed more than one billion baht to expand production capacity. Through the funds raised from the IPO, the company expects to reduce the interest burden from 55 million baht a year ($1.68 million) to 20 million baht a year ($0.6 million).

After IPO, the Chavananand family will hold 75.53% in the company. Vichitphan Klai-ubon will hold 0.43%, while the Sasomsap family will hold 0.42%. The company has a policy to pay atleast 40% of the net profit as dividend

According to the SET’s statement, the IPO price was equivalent to price per earnings ratio of 24.13 times (calculated by using the company’s net profit in the past four quarters Q4 2013 – Q3 2014, divided by fully diluted shares, ) representing earnings per share of 0.11 baht. Compared to this, the the SET’s 12-month average P/E ratio is 16.60 times (November 11, 2013 to November 10, 2014).

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In Singapore, we are looking to double our reporting team by this year-end to comprehensively cover the fast-moving world of funded startups and VC, PE & M&A deals. We want reporters who can tell our readers what is really happening in these sectors and why it matters to markets, companies and consumers. The ability to write precisely and urgently is crucial for these roles. Ideal candidates must have to ability to work in a collaborative, dynamic, and fast-changing environment. We want our new hires to be digitally savvy and ready to experiment with new forms of storytelling. Most importantly, we are looking for hard-hitting reporters who work well in a team. Collaboration and collegiality are a must.

Following vacancies can be applied for (only in Singapore).

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  • A reporter to track companies/startups that have raised private capital, and have the potential to become unicorns. SEA currently has over 40 companies with a valuation of over $100 million and under $1 billion.
  • A reporter who can get behind the scenes and reveal how funding rounds are put together, or why they’ve failed to materialise. She/he in this role will largely focus on long-format stories. 
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