A former shareholder of Thai Solar Energy (TSE) is seeking an Administrative Court injunction in a last-ditch effort to thwart the company's initial public offering (IPO) launch set to start today.
"Will the Securities and Exchange Commission take responsibility for potential damages to retail investors in the future? Why not wait until the legal case is settled?" asked Banthun Junhasavasdikul, lawyer for Phaiboon Maturanont, who lost a legal battle against TSE's two major shareholders, Pracha and Cathleen Maleenont, last week when the Criminal Court dropped his case for a lack of evidence.
Mr Phaiboon has vowed to continue appealing against the verdict. In the dispute he claims TSE put capital-increase shares under the hammer even though he already paid for the shares.
TSE signed an underwriting deal for the IPO share sales yesterday, shortly after the SEC gave the green light to the leading solar farm producer's plan to go public this week.
The company is set to offer 450 million IPO shares at a price of 3.90 baht each, raising its paid-up capital to 1.82 billion baht, said an investment banking source.
TSE appointed Bualuang Securities as lead underwriter, while SCB Securities, Asia Plus Securities, Kasikorn Securities and Tisco Securities act as co-underwriters. Its subscription period runs through Friday and its debut on the Market for Alternative Investment is slated for Oct 30.
The source said the SEC's approval was based on the assumption investors are well aware of any investment risks with the TSE because the lawsuit has been publicised and the company disclosed it to the public.
TSE's IPO process is almost complete, but it could take a long time until the court cases are decided, as Mr Phaiboon indicated his desire to appeal the case to the Supreme Court, the source said.
"The company's actions regarding Mr Phaiboon's suit have complied with the law. We've tried to generate solar power on time and efficiently, and investors should know institutional investors oversubscribed our IPO shares by six times," said Mrs Cathleen, who is also TSE's chief executive.
"Mr Phaiboon has the right to bring the case to the Appeals and Supreme courts, but this will take around eight to 10 years to settle and TSE can be shielded from the suit if we raise enough funds to double our capacity next year."
The company expects to mobilise 1.76 billion baht in fresh public funding for solar farm expansion the next two years. It projects nearly 100 additional megawatts of solar electricity will feed into the grid next year before ramping up to 900 MWs in 2016.
TSE's power-generating capacity is expected to reach 98.5 MWs this year, with 80 MWs generated from a joint venture solar farm with PTT subsidiary Global Power Synergy Company, 14 MWs from 10 commercial solar roof top projects, and 4.5 MWs from solar thermal projects.
The company's net profit for the first half surged 84.1% year-on-year to 648 million baht.