TH Dealbook: Singha Estate gets loan for UK deal; PTTGC stalls plans in Indonesia

Image from Jupiter Hotels website.

By Chalida Ekvitthayavechnukul

November 5, 2015

Thailand-based property developer Singha Estate has receive a $185-million loan from Krungthai Bank to complete its first acquisition in Europe. In another development, PTT Global Chemical decided to postpone its investment in a petrochemical complex in Indonesia, following change in the government policy.

Singha Estate gets loan for UK acquisition

Singha Estate, a property subsidiary under Singha Corp’s umbrella, has got a 120-million-pound loan ($185 million) from Krungthai Bank for acquiring British Jupiter Hotels, which operates 26 Mercure-brand hotels in the United Kingdom.

The acquisition, which was announced last month, will be made under the joint venture between Singha Estate and FICO Holding (UK) with total investment of 154.77 million pound.

This is the company’s third asset acquisition following a hotel on PP Island and Sun Towers Office Buildings. It also boosted a partnership with Nirvana Development through a share swap as a strategy to expand into a boutique realty business.

Due to its aggressive expansion, Methee Winichbutr, CFO of Singha Estate, said, its revenue target was revised to boost to 30 billion baht by 2019, up from 20 billion baht in its earlier announcement.

“The budget for acquisition in 2016 will be higher than 15 billion baht this year. We will focus on commercial properties such as hotels and office buildings,” he said.

It is also negotiating to buy a four-star hotel in Thailand with the size of 100 rooms. The deal size will be worth around 2 billion baht. It is expected to seal the deal within this year.

Also Read: Thailand’s Singha Estate plans mega M&A push; to launch two REITs in 2016

Thailand’s Singha Estate, FICO to buy UK’s Jupiter Hotels portfolio for $243m

Thailand-based Singha Estate’s subsidiary buys Sun Towers in Bangkok

PTTGC postpones investment in Indonesia

PTT Global Chemical PCL (PTTGC), Thailand’s biggest petrochemical firm, has delayed its $5-billion investment in setting up a petrochemical complex in Indonesia for one or two years.

“Indonesia exports crude oil while it imports a plenty of finished products. Therefore, its government considers the oil refinery more important than the downstream although we tried to explain that the petrochemical complex will give higher margin. We have more time to conduct the feasibility carefully,” Supatanapong Punmeechaow, President and CEO of PTTGC, told the media.

Apart from this project, it has working on another $5.7-billion petrochemical complex in the United States, which is expected to be finalised in the middle of next year.

He said that it expected to spend around $100 million on the feasibility study including the plant design, marketing and financial source.

Also Read:

Thailand’s PTT to invest $5b for Indonesia, US projects

PTTGC to enter JV with Japanese partner for US-based petrochem project

 

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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).

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

  • 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. 
  • A journalist to track special situations funds, distressed debt and private credit (from the PE angle) across Asia.
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