New CEO of Thai NFC offers to buy all outstanding shares

06 July 2004 03:54  [Source: ICIS news]

SINGAPORE (CNI)--The chief executive officer (CEO) of Thailand's National Fertilizer Co (NFC) has launched a Baht1.72bn ($42.2m/Euro34.3m)  tender offer for all the shares in the company he does not already own, according to a filing with the Thai Stock Exchange

 

CEO Nuttaphob Ratanasuwanthawee, who is also chairman of Thai chemicals logistics company SC Group, was obliged to launch the tender offer for NFC under Thai stock exchange rules when his shareholding in the company rose above the 25% trigger mark.

 

Until last month Nuttaphob owned just 22.92% of NFC. Last month he bought stakes from two other major shareholders, one of which was Siam Commercial Bank, increasing his total shareholding to 39.73%.

 

Under the terms of the tender offer, Nuttaphob is offering Baht11.50 a share for the 149.8m shares of NFC he does not own. The tender offer will lapse in mid-August.

 

The announcement to the stock exchange was made by C.J. Morgan Co which is the plan administrator for NFC which has long been embroiled in a heavy debt problem.

 

A source close to the offer said Nuttaphob would like to increase his stake in NFC to at least 50% in order to give himself operational control of the company. The source said Nuttaphob had experience in the chemicals industry through his involvement with SC Group and was seen as the best candidate to help NFC escape its long-standing debt problems.

 

Nuttaphob first acquired his holding in NFC earlier this year when he and a number of other Thai private investors bought stakes in the company when it sold two tranches of new shares to raise funds to help ease its debt problems.

 

The 60% of the shares in NFC not owned by Nuttaphob are in the hands of the other private investors and Thai asset management companies which acquired them as part of a debt to equity conversion.

 

NFC is based in the Mab Ta Phut petrochemical complex in Rayong Province. The company has a capacity to produce 280 000 tonne/year of phosphoric acid, 460 000 tonne/year of sulphuric acid and 1.1m tonne/year of nitrophosphate.

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