Thai Beverage Plc is exploring options for its spirits business including an initial public offering (IPO) in Singapore where it is listed, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
The company controlled by Thailand’s richest man has held initial discussions with banks on options including selling a stake in the maker of the country’s best-selling liquor brands, Mekhong and Ruang Khao, said the sources, 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 sources said. One estimated a deal could give the spin-off company a value of at least US$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, they said. A representative for ThaiBev did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The plans come amid ThaiBev’s struggles to bring a separate unit to market. In August last year the company deferred its third attempt at a Singapore IPO of its brewery unit, citing “prolonged challenging market conditions” in a stock exchange filing.
The maker of Chang beer was seeking to raise $1 billion from the IPO, which would have been Singapore’s biggest since the $1.7-billion offering of NetLink NBN Trust in 2017, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
ThaiBev reported a 13.2% increase in revenue to 272.4 billion baht and a 22.2% rise in net profit 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 TCC Group has many other interests including the SET-listed trading company Berli Jucker Plc. The latter is considering bringing Big C Supercenter Plc back to the Stock Exchange of Thailand with an IPO that could raise at least 18 billion baht, Bloomberg has reported.
Shares of BIGC were delisted from the SET in 2017 after the business was acquired by Berlin Jucker.
