Bangkok--Nov 7--True
In a move that would make True a “triple player” with market leadership in voice, data, and video, the company today announced that it has signed an agreement with MIH to buy out UBC and purchase all shares of MKSC.
With the acquisition of United Broadcast Corporation Plc (UBC), Thailand’s major pay TV operator, True will be in a strong position to spearhead the convergence of broadband and cable TV within the country in line with global technology trends. In addition, the purchase of Internet provider MKSC will further enhance True’s leadership in the Internet service provider market.
Mr. Supachai Chearavanont, President and CEO of True Corporation Plc said that True is delighted with the agreement as the acquisition would help bring to fruition True’s vision to become a fully-integrated communications solutions provider and leading lifestyle enabler. True would be able to expand its services to offer Thai consumers an infinite variety of content through its advanced technological resources.
‘Data, content and non voice services are the biggest growth areas in our business and this acquisition would give us the potential to grow even more rapidly as it will expand our network and subscriber base at the same time as helping us to provide better content.
It would also be a good deal for consumers Mr. Supachai said, “True aims to provide content which is richer and more interactive to all our subscribers. By extending our reach over different kinds of media channels, we will have an advantage when it comes to bidding for material — and ultimately that means we will be able to offer more choices and better content to Thai people at a reasonable price.”
Mr. Supachai said that he enjoys a good partnership with MIH who have helped to build successful Pay TV and Internet market in Thailand and confidence that the good relation with MIH will continue.
The share purchase would be made through subsidiaries of True; K.I.N.(Thailand) Limited, which will buy shares of United Broadcasting Corporation Public Company Limited and True Multimedia which will buy MKSC World Dot Com Co., Ltd (MKSC), from MIH; for an agreed price of USD 150,000,000 for a 30.59% shareholding in UBC and approximately USD 10.6 million for the MKSC transaction.
Both True and UBC will hold an Extraordinary General Meeting for shareholders on December 13, 2005. Shareholders of True will vote on the acquisition of the UBC and MKSC shares and shareholders in UBC will vote on the delisting of UBC.
This agreement would take True’s shareholding in UBC to over 70%, which will automatically trigger a mandatory takeover bid for the remaining 221,055,929 shares in UBC. True will offer Baht 26.50 per share for the remaining UBC shares held by minority shareholders, the same price it is paying MIH (USD 0.649 per share). This is a premium of 18% of the average market price of the last 15 days. The company will also offer to buy all the outstanding warrants for UBC shares, currently held by UBC employees.
If all approvals are given, the acquisition will take place in January, 2006.
Mr. Supachai said that True had no immediate plans to make changes to the management or services of UBC following the buyout of the company.
‘It will be business as usual. However, in the future we will be looking for synergies between UBC, and our True services in order to provide more choice for subscribers of both True and UBC.’
For more information, please contact:
PR Department, True
Saovanee, Sisadhi, Pimolpan: 02-699-2777, 02-643-2463, 02-699-2772
MIH Contact,
Beverly Branford, Investor Relations, 2721 406 4824 End.