Thai Beverage Pcl is exploring options for its spirits business including an initial public offering in Singapore, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
The firm controlled by Thailand’s richest man has held initial discussions with banks on alternatives including selling a stake in the maker of the country’s best-selling liquor brands Mekhong and Ruang Khao, said the people, who asked not to be identified as the process is private.
Deliberations are at an early stage and no final decisions about the spirits business’s valuation have been made, the people said. One person familiar with the matter estimated a deal could give it a value of at least $5 billion, while another pegged its worth at more than $10 billion.
There is no certainty that ThaiBev will proceed with a deal for the spirits business, the people said.
ThaiBev continually evaluates opportunities to optimize is businesses and regularly engages with advisers and banks, the company said in a stock exchange filing late Thursday. No concrete plans have been made in respect of a listing or sale of the spirits business, the company said.
The plans come amid ThaiBev’s struggles to bring a separate unit to market. In August the firm deferred its third attempt at a Singapore IPO of its brewery unit, citing “prolonged challenging market conditions” in a stock exchange filing. The company behind Chang beer was seeking to raise $1 billion from the IPO, which would have been Singapore’s biggest since NetLink NBN Trust’s $1.7 billion offering in 2017, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
ThaiBev reported a 13.2% increase in revenue to 272.4 billion baht ($7.9 billion) and a 22.2% rise in net income to 30.1 billion baht in its 2022 financial year, as the easing of the pandemic and travel restrictions boost consumer spending, according its latest financial statement. The spirits business accounted for 42.7% of revenue and 71.9% of net profit, the statement shows.
The group is controlled by Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi, who is Thailand’s richest person with a net worth of about $14.3 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. His supermarket and convenience store company Big C Supercenter Pcl is considering a Bangkok initial public offering of about $1 billion as soon as this year, Bloomberg News has reported.
©2023 Bloomberg L.P.
