Rock icon Add Carabao, famed for songs about social injustice and political issues, stands to become a baht billionaire when his energy drinks company enters the stock market.
Add shows his skills at a concert in February. (Photo by Seksan Rojjanametakul)
Carabao Group Plc will sell 250 million shares in its initial public offering on Wednesday and Thursday. The shares will begin trading under the symbol CBG on Nov 21.
The share price has yet to be finalised but the company's financial adviser has set it in a range between 26 and 28 baht against a par value of one baht each.
In this price range, investors led by Add, whose given name is Yuenyong Opakul, would receive between 3.68 billion and 3.96 billion baht from the share sale.
Mr Yuenyong's group, the company's third largest shareholder, holds 141.50 million shares in the company.
The final price will be set on Monday based on demand from financial institutions, who will represent 50-60% of total sales, said Manpong Senanarong, managing director for investment banking business at Kasikorn Securities, a co-financial adviser of the IPO.
Carabao Group is a holding company whose core business is the production and distribution of Carabao Dang-brand energy drinks.
With a 26% share in the 36-billion-baht local market in 2013, Carabao Dang was the second largest energy-drink brand after M-150 of Osotspa Group, with 45%.
"The price should give IPO buyers a discount of 10-20% based on the industry's price-to-earnings ratio of 20-30 times," Mr Manpong said.
K-Securities said it expected strong interest given the company's solid fundamentals and the brand's popularity at home and in Asean.
The proceeds from the share sale will be used to repay outstanding debts of 4.5 billion baht, eliminating the interest burden now at 100 million baht a year. The balance will be used as working capital.
Carabao Group plans to increase its share of exports to half of total sales from 30%, with a focus on Asean.
Add Carabao is the lead singer of the 33-year-old songs-for-life band Carabao. The word carabao is Tagalog meaning "buffalo", a symbol of fighting, hard work, and patience. In Thailand, however, it has also been used in a derogatory way to refer to the rural poor.
Carabao's most popular album, Made In Thailand, was released in 1984 and sold more than 4 million copies.
Add, a 60-year-old Suphan Buri native, was honoured with a national artist title in 2013.