Business

Corporate bonds issuance in Thailand : Berli Jucker and Siam Cement top raisers

Thailand saw one of the largest corporate bond issuance in the third quarter this year when Berli Jucker pcl, completed the first issuance, raising US$1.62bil.

Published

3 years ago

February 27, 2017

Boris Sullivan

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.