Thailand’s leading arranger of initial public offerings since 2021 is targeting companies from neighbouring Vietnam and Cambodia for listing on the Bangkok bourse to counter a slump in domestic stock sales, though nationalism is one obstacle.
Kiatnakin Phatra Bank Plc is working with several Southeast Asian firms to tap investors through the Stock Exchange of Thailand, said Anuwat Ruamsuke, head of investment banking and capital markets. While businesses are keen on IPOs and cross-border listing, some regulators in the region are less helpful, he said, without specifying company names or countries.
“Thailand’s market breadth and depth has drawn strong interest for IPOs here because of better valuations,” Anuwat said in an interview. “We are trying to expand across regional capital markets using our expertise and leadership in the Thai market.”
Kiatnakin Phatra joins peers such as Bangkok Bank Plc and Kasikornbank Plc that aim to expand their footprints, as the Thai economy -- Southeast Asia’s second-largest -- has been one of the region’s slowest-growing for a decade. Thailand’s aging population and new competition from financial-technology firms are also hurdles.
Thailand has yet to attract any direct listings of foreign companies since making regional expansion a goal in 2018, citing potential for dual listings, cross listings and depositary receipts for companies already public elsewhere in Southeast Asia.
Kiatnakin Phatra helped arranged four IPOs that accounted for $849 million of offerings since the start of 2021, topping rivals ranging from Bangkok Bank to Morgan Stanley, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. This year, though, it’s been a manager for only one such deal, that of Thai Life Insurance Plc, while advising food producer Betagro Plc’s plan to raise about 20 billion baht.
Shares of Kiatnakin Phatra have gained 19% in 2022, the second-best performer among the nation’s commercial lenders, compared with a 7% drop in the SET banking index.
The capital-markets business contributed 17% of the firm’s revenue in the first half, with some IPOs postponed, Korakot Sawetkruttamat, an analyst at Kasikorn Securities Plc, said in a report. Income from the same unit in the second-half of 2022 “will likely be pressured by an overall continued weak capital market,” the note said.
Sixteen of the 17 brokerages that cover the stock, including Kasikorn, recommend buy, Bloomberg data show.
