Bangkok--26 Feb--SET
Market for Alternative Investment (mai) will list Asia Biomass pcl, a biomass fuel supplier and distributor, on February 27, under the ticker symbol "ABM". The company has a market capitalization at its initial public offering (IPO) of THB 540 million (approx. USD 16.9 million).
mai President Prapan Charoenprawatt said that ABM would list and start trading on mai in the Resources industry group. ABM supplies a variety of biomass fuels such as palm kernel shells, woodchips, wood shavings, sawdust, wood dust and biomass pallets, etc. to customers that use biomass fuel in the production process.
Customers of ABM group include industrial plants, power production plants, and those which use the fuel in other activities - biomass processing plants, wood product manufacturers, and biomass suppliers. The company has eight warehouses, four in Thailand and the other four in Malaysia and Indonesia. They are all strategically situated near raw material sources and target customer groups. Transportation services are carried out by its subsidiary's trucks to ensure efficient logistics.
ABM has a paid-up registered capital of THB 150 million, consisting of 225 million existing common shares and 75 million newly issued shares, with a par value of THB 0.50 each. The entire newly issued shares were allocated to general public via IPO at THB 1.80 each, for a total of THB 135 million, during February 19 - 21, 2018. Sage Capital Limited is its financial advisor and KGI Securities (Thailand) pcl is the lead underwriter.
ABM Managing Director Tiyada Kuansataporn said that the company supplies biomass fuels from various quality sources to serve customers' needs. Being an mai-listed company will help ABM gain more trust and acceptance from customers and trade counterparties. The fund raised will be used to expand palm kernel shell stock yards in Indonesia and Malaysia, set up a joint-venture biomass pellet factory in the southern Thailand and a woodchip factory and a biomass pellet factory in Surat Thani province in the southern part of Thailand, to serve the increasing demand. In addition, the fund will be used as working capital.
ABM's three major shareholders after the IPO are Kuansataporn Family (65.77 percent), Apisit Rujikeatkamjorn (5.00 percent) and Prasert Lohawiboonsup (2.50 percent). The IPO price was equivalent to price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 29.51 times calculated by using the company's net profit in the past four quarters (Q4/2016 - Q3/2017) totaling THB 18.30 million divided by fully diluted shares, representing earnings per share of THB 0.06. ABM's dividend policy is to pay no less than 40 percent of net profit from the company's separate financial statements, after legal reserves.
For more information, please see the company's prospectus at the Securities and Exchange
Commission's website at www.sec.or.th; and for general information, please visit www.asiabiomass.com , as well as www.set.or.th .