GPSC expects to raise B10bn with IPO

GPSC expects to raise B10bn with IPO

Global Power Synergy Plc (GPSC), the power business arm of the country's oil and gas conglomerate PTT Plc, says it plans to use funds raised from an imminent initial public offering (IPO) to expand its power business.

The IPO is expected to raise 10 billion baht.

The company's IPO will be one of the biggest on the Stock Exchange of Thailand this year, according to Finansa Securities Co, GPSC's financial adviser.

Finansa expects the price of the IPO shares to range between 30 baht to 35 baht per unit. The total IPO would entail 374.5 million shares.

The final share price will be released on April 29 with the shares trading on May 18, said the financial adviser.

Varah Sucharitakul, executive director of Finansa, said another major IPO this year would be that of Star Petroleum Refining Co, which was planned for the second half of 2015.

GPSC president Noppadol Pinsupa said the company has set capital expenditure (capex) over the next five years at 18 billion baht, which would help increase the company's power-generating capacity to 1,800 megawatts from the current operating capacity of 1,300 MW.

The committed project on its pipeline totalled 500 MW, including small power plants in Rayong, Ayutthaya and Pathum Thani, and the Nam Lik and Xayaburi hydropower plants in Laos.

The company was also granted a solar farm licence by the Japanese government to develop a 18-MW solar farm, which is expected to start operating in 2017.

However, the capex excludes merger and acquisition projects. It is in currently in talks with strategic partners to join the investment.

Mr Noppadol said the company is conducting a feasibility study on a 1,800-2,000 MW coal-fired power plant with Egat International Co and Marubeni in Myeik, Myanmar.

The study coincides with Ratchaburi Electricity Generating Holding Plc conducting a feasibility study on another project to develop the same type of coal-fired power plant with a capacity of 2,600 MW.

Most of the power generated from the coal-fired power plants would supply southern Thailand.

For longer term developments, the company plans to work with energy experts from Japan and the United States to develop a lithium-ion storage system battery.

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