COUNTRY REPORT THAILANDThe bonds are rated AAA by Tris to
reflect a guarantee from parent company
Toyota Motor Finance Netherlands, whose
ultimate parent company is Japan’s Toyota
Motor.
Bangkok Bank, Bank of Ayudhya, Kasikornbank
and Krungthai Bank were joint lead
underwriters and managers for the deal,
rated AAA by Tris.
This was Toyota Leasing’s third visit to
the bond market this year, having sold
Bt8bn of one-year 11-month and two-year
five-month bonds in May and Bt6bn of one-
year four-month and two-year four-month
notes in March.
› TRUE MOVE DIALS FOR MORE
TRUE MOVE H UNIVERSAL COMMUNICATION has
increased a triple-tranche bond to Bt11.5bn
on the back of a healthy response.
A Bt8.8bn one-year tranche was priced
at par to yield 3.15%, a Bt1.5bn three-year
tranche will pay 3.8% and a Bt1.2bn 5.25-
year tranche will pay 5%.
Institutional investors subscribed to the
bonds, rated BBB+ by Tris, on August 14-15.
The Thai mobile phone operator initially
planned to raise Bt10bn. Proceeds will
be used to refinance bonds maturing in
September.
Bangkok Bank, Kasikornbank, Krungthai Bank
and Siam Commercial Bank were joint lead
managers.
True Move is a subsidiary of telecoms
group True. This is its third foray to the
bond market this year, after raising a total
of Bt26bn in two deals in January and
March.
SYNDICATED LOANS
› BANKS EYE INDORAMA-HUNTSMAN LOAN
Several banks are eyeing a takeout loan to
replace a bridge facility of up to US$2bn
backing INDORAMA VENTURES’ purchase of two
business units from chemical products
manufacturer Huntsman Corp.
Bangkok Bank and some other lenders are
providing the one-year bridge loan, which
is likely to close as a club.
Thailand-based Indorama Ventures is
acquiring Huntsman’s five manufacturing
facilities located in the United States,
Australia and India, in a deal valued at
about US$2.08bn, including US$2bn
in cash and up to about US$75m in
“net underfunded pension” and “post-
employment benefit liabilities”, according
to a company press release on August 7.
The acquisition represents an Ebitda
multiple of around 8x. The transaction
is subject to regulatory approvals and
other customary closing conditions, and
is expected to close around the end of the
year, the press release added.
The Valence Group was Indorama’s
financial adviser, and Lowenstein Sandler
was its legal adviser.
Bank of America Merrill Lynch served
as Huntsman’s financial adviser, while
Kirkland & Ellis was the legal adviser.
Headquartered in Bangkok, Indorama
Ventures is one of the world’s leading
petrochemicals producers, with a global
manufacturing footprint across Africa, Asia,
Europe and North America.
US-based Huntsman is a publicly traded
global manufacturer of differentiated and
specialty chemicals.› MINT TAPS €400M REFI OF BRIDGE LOANThai hospitality company MINOR INTERNATIONAL
(MINT) has launched a €400m (US$448m)
five-year term loan, returning to the loan
market within six months of raising a
smaller borrowing.
Standard Chartered is the sole mandated
lead arranger and bookrunner of the
unsecured transaction, while Export-Import
Bank of Thailand and Bank of China Hong Kong
branch joined as MLAs before the launch
into general syndication.
The deal offers an interest margin of
130bp over Euribor and has a remaining
life of 4.5 years.
Lead arrangers joining with €30m or
more receive a top-level all-in pricing of
141.1bp via a participation fee of 50bp,
while arrangers taking €20m–€29m earn
an all-in of 138.9bp via a fee of 40bp. Lead
managers committing €10m–€19m are
offered an all-in of 136.7bp via a fee of
30bp.
A bank presentation was held in
Singapore on August 20. The deadline
for commitments is September 17, with
signing slated for the week of September
30.
MHG Continental Holding (Singapore)
is the borrower, while MINT is the
guarantor.
Funds are to refinance a bridge loan that
funded MINT’s purchase of an additional
stake in Spanish hotel company NH Hotel
Group.
In October last year, MINT increased
its stake Madrid-listed NH Hotel Group to
94.1% from 46.4%. Chinese conglomerate
HNA Group was the Spanish company’s
largest shareholder before the acquisition.
Following the stake increase, Bangkok-
listed MINT owns 549 hotels globally, up
from 158 hotels.
In February, MINT raised a US$396m-
equivalent five-year loan comprising
a US$238m tranche and a €138.85m(US$158m) portion. Sumitomo Mitsui
Banking Corp was the sole MLAB of that
unsecured deal, which paid top-level all-in
pricing of 168.9bp based on an interest
margin of 158bp over Libor and 150.6bp
based on a margin of 140bp over Euribor
respectively.EQUITY CAPITAL MARKETS
› THAI ASSET MANAGER BAM PLANS IPOState-owned distressed-asset manager
BANGKOK COMMERCIAL ASSET MANAGEMENT
(BAM) plans to launch a long-awaited
Stock Exchange of Thailand IPO of up to
US$700m in the fourth quarter of this year
at the earliest, people familiar with the
matter said.
In a preliminary filing, BAM said state-
owned Financial Institutions Development
Fund will be selling 1.26bn shares while the
company will be selling 280m. There is an
over-allotment option of up to 230m shares.
FIDF’s stake in BAM will be reduced to
around 45.6% from 100% after the IPO.
Kasikorn Securities, Trinity Securities and UBS
are the banks on the transaction.
BAM was set up by Bank of Thailand’s
FIDF in 1998 to manage distressed assets
during the Asian financial crisis. Although
that core role has been reduced as Thai
banks recovered through the years, it
continues its role as the country’s largest
distressed asset manager.› INTOUCH HOLDINGS BLOCK SOLDTemasek entities Anderton Investments
and its Thai unit Aspen Holdings have
raised Bt15.6bn (US$506m) through the sale
of 257.1m INTOUCH HOLDINGS shares at Bt60.75
each, according to a term-sheet.
The transaction is the largest overnight
block year to date in South-East Asia and
the largest Thai block since 2013.
The shares were marketed in a Bt60.50–
Bt62.00 range. The final price represents
a 5.8% discount to the pre-deal close of
Bt64.50.
Around 50 acccounts participated and the
shares were allocated equally to foreigners
and locals. Books were covered within an
hour of launch.
Aspen sold its entire 2.1% stake and
Anderton Investments 5.9% off its 15.9%
holding in the mobile phone company.
Aspen is owned by Anderton.
Credit Suisse and Morgan Stanley are the
bookrunners.
Intouch Holdings, the former Shin Corp,
is the major shareholder of Thai mobile
phone operator Advanced Info Service and
satellite company Thaicom.