Thailand saw one of the largest corporate bond issuance in the third quarter this year when Berli Jucker pcl, a company involved in consumer staples, packaging and healthcare products, completed the first issuance involving several tranches on Aug 31, raising US$1.62bil.

This was followed by a further US$785.25mil in bonds completed at the beginning of this month.

The bond issuances were part of a US$6.02bil programme of bond sales, a rights issue and a private placement to refinance the company’s debt following the acquisition of Big C Supercenter pcl, which raised its debt to equity ratio to 4.98 times.

In October, shareholders approved the US$494mil rights issue.

Berli Jucker, the flagship retail business of the Sirivadhanabhakdi family, whose head is billionaire Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi, acquired French supermarket operator Casino Guichard-Perrachon SA’s 58.6% stake in Big C earlier this year and bought out the other shareholders in May via a tender offer that valued the hypermarket chain at a total of US$5.86bil.