Tyre manufacturer ND Rubber Plc (NDR) will float 65 million shares to the public through the Market for Alternative Investment, priced at 2.7 baht apiece, with most proceeds to be earmarked for debt repayment.
ND Rubber managing director Chaiyasit Samrittivanicha (third right), director Nittaya Samrittivanicha (third left) and MAI head Prapan Charoenprawat (centre) at the IPO.
Managing director Chaiyasit Samrittivanicha said about 100 million baht available from the initial public offering (IPO) would be allocated to repay debts mainly incurred from the company's Chon Buri plant expansion, with the rest to be used as working capital.
Since 2013, NDR has expanded annual production capacity of its motorcycle tyres at the Ban Bung plant to 3.5 million units from 2.4 million, with an investment cost of 300 million baht.
The new capacity is due to be launched in the first quarter of this year.
According to the company's filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission, NDR reported revenue of 738 million baht in 2011, 827 million in 2012 and 853 million in 2013.
Last year's revenue was projected to drop by 6-7% due to sluggish motorcycle sales.
NDR expects its revenue to top 1 billion baht in 2016.
Phillip Securities acts as NDR's financial adviser and underwriter for the IPO. Other underwriters are Asia Wealth Securities, KGI Securities (Thailand) and Capital Nomura Securities.
The IPO period runs from today until Friday, with the first day of trading on Jan 15.
After the IPO, NDR will have 215 million shares, with 69.8% belonging to the founding Samrittivanicha family.
Founded in 1990, NDR produces motorcycle tyres mainly to serve the replacement market in Thailand and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs).
NDR signed a contract with Thai Suzuki Motor last year to produce OEM tyres for the Japanese motorcycle manufacturer.
"The company will focus on both OEM and replacement tyres. We expect to be among the top three Thai motorcycle tyre manufacturers by 2017 from No.5 now," Mr Chaiyasit said.
Thailand's motorcycle sales are expected to grow slightly this year from last, with the figures expected to recover to 2 million units in 2016.
AP Honda, the local distributor of Honda motorcycles, late last year predicted the motorcycle market is likely to grow by just 2-3% in 2015 as purchasing power remains weak.
AP Honda predicted 2014 sales of 1.7 million motorcycles in the Thai market, marking the first year of the past three in which domestic sales would miss 2 million.
Thailand's motorcycle sales surpassed 2 million for the first time in 2011 with a figure of 2.01 million. Sales rose to 2.13 million in 2012 before dropping to 2 million last year.