<article><a href="http://iec.co.th/" target="_blank">The International Engineering Plc</a> (IEC), the listed mobile phone distributor and engineering firm, is diversifying and shifting its focus to renewable energy business next year.</article>

<a href="http://iec.co.th/" target="_blank">The International Engineering Plc</a> (IEC), the listed mobile phone distributor and engineering firm, is diversifying and shifting its focus to renewable energy business next year.
This move is aimed at generating a better return on business, and the company plans to get listed in energy sector instead of the current telecommunication sector, said IEC’s chairman of the boards and group president Bhusana Premanode.
“In January, we will request the Securities and Exchange Commissions and the Stock Exchange of Thailand to shift our listing from telecommunication to energy category because of the changing of business structure. Around 90 per cent of our revenue next year will come from energy, and the rest 10 per cent from telecommunication,” he said.
In line with its business plan, it will spend 2.68 billion baht ($81.7 million) on eight projects, largely related to renewable energy.
First, it plans to acquire 75-per-cent stakes of Kaew Lamduan Power Supply, operating a biomass power plant in Sa Kaeo province. This requires the investment of 390 million baht ($11.89 million).
Second, it will raise funds worth 140 million baht ($4.27 million) in IEC Green Energy Company Limited in order to purchase the machines and equipment for waste-segregating system and waste incinerator in Songkhla province.
The company will also put 300 million baht ($9.15 million) to make a joint venture in a 20-megawatt Solar Farm. , which can product the electricity of 20 megawatts, worth 300 million baht ($9.17 million)
It also plans joint venture in a waste-based power plant with total investment of 600 million baht ($18.29 million), and a separate JV in biogas power plant that requires total investment of 400 million baht ($12.2 million), in addition to co-investing in an ethanol-production plant, worth 450 million baht ($13.72 million)
Its plans also include investing invest 100 million baht ($3.05 million) in ICT project, working with the state agencies. Lastly, it will make a joint investment, worth 300 million baht ($9.15 million), in the Eastern Seaboard Industrial Estate.
After these energy-related investment projects are completed, it will have a combined electricity production capacity of 90 megawatts, up from currently 40 megawatts.
IEC targets to gain the EBITDA of 123 million baht in 2014 and surge to 605 billion baht in 2015 mainly due to the revenue recognition from renewable energy business. Currently, it has a 40-megawatt power plant which will fully generate the revenue to the company next year.
It is also negotiating to acquire a 120-megawatt SPP power plant in Thailand. Initially, it expects to hold 50 per cent shares in the plant. If this deal succeeds, it will have total electricity production capacity of more than 100 megawatts in the coming year.
Besides, IEC has invested in the ethanol-production plant in Cambodia, with a daily production capacity of 80,000 litres. The ethanol will be used to produce E85, sold in Cambodia. Now it has surveyed the land and is on the process to list the company in Cambodia.
Narong Ongartmaneerut, senior executive vice president, said it is studying the possibility to set up the Infrastructure Fund, worth billions baht, in the last quarter of 2015. The company plans to sell its asset to the fund in order to reduce its financial cost.
“If all the investment projects in 2015 are achieved, we will have enough asset to form the Infrastructure Fund in the year end,” he said.

Thailand’s IEC diversifies into energy business

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