Central Retail Corporation Plc (CRC), Thailand's largest retailer and the retail arm of Central Group, has set its initial public offering (IPO) price range at 40 to 43 baht per share, which will possibly become the country's biggest-ever fund-raising deal worth up to 72.7 billion baht.
The IPO price range suggests CRC's market capitalisation will be between 67.6 billion and 72.7 billion baht.
Thailand's biggest IPO to date was the BTS Rail Mass Transit Growth Infrastructure Fund, which raised more than 62.5 billion baht in 2013, according to Reuters.
CRC is a holding company that invests in multi-format and multi-category retailing platforms in Thailand and overseas.
Central Group is a conglomerate owned by the Chirathivat family, which is involved in various business ventures ranging from retail, restaurants and hospitality to real estate and merchandising.
CRC has 1,922 stores nationwide with a customer base of 16.5 million and has now expanded to Vietnam and Italy.
Central Group was started in 1947 as a small mom-and-pop store run by Tiang Chirathivat in Bangkok.
His son, Samrit Chirathivat, expanded the general merchandise business in 1956 with the establishment of the first Central Department Store in Bangkok's Wang Burapha district.
CRC's IPO period has been set for Jan 29-31 and Feb 3, with the tentative first trading day slated for Feb 20. The company will offer 1.69 billion shares and an over-allotment option of 169 million shares.
International cornerstone investors will account for 44.6% of the IPO if it is sold at 40 baht, and 41.6% if sold at 43 baht, according to Reuters.
Domestic cornerstone investors will take 22.3% if the IPO is sold at 40 baht and 20.8% at 43 baht.
CRC chief executive Yol Phokasub said the deal is considered the largest retail IPO launch globally since 2007 and CRC shares will be fast-tracked for listing in the SET50 index on the back of the huge market capitalisation.
Six local institutional investors and five global institutional investors are to become cornerstone investors of this share placement, with holdings worth 560 million shares, said Mr Yol.
Soravis Krairiksh, deputy managing director at Bualuang Securities which is one of the IPO underwriters, said the pricing is reasonable considering that the price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio is around 28-30 times, lower than the retail industry where the P/E ratio is at 34.9 times.
CRC achieved revenues of 206.57 billion baht in 2018 with average growth of 8.3% per year since 2016. The company's profit for 2018 hit 10 billion baht.
In the first nine months of last year, the company's revenue stood at 159.5 billion baht, up 4.1% from the same period of the previous year, with a net profit of 5.86 billion baht.