PTT Oil and Retail Business (OR) has recorded 530,000 subscriptions for OR shares among retail investors at the final price of its IPO at 18 baht per share in what it says is a historic fundraising round.
The number of retail investors is expected to increase as the OR board is considering selling 390 million more shares through a green-shoe option.
A proposal to reduce planned share sales to four institutional investors -- Bic Bank Lao, Capital Asia Investment, Ton Pho Fund and Denali Prestige Asset Management -- will also be considered to sell an additional 51.2 million shares to retail investors.
The 10-day IPO subscription period is "one of the largest fundraising rounds in Thai stock history," said Jiraphon Kawswat, OR's president and chief executive, citing the total number of retail investors reported by Krung Thai Bank, Kasikorn Bank and Bangkok Bank (BBL).
The banks' subscription period ended on Tuesday, with the final price rising from a preliminary range of 16-18 baht to 18 baht a share, said Auttapol Rerkpiboon, PTT's president, in a letter to the Stock Exchange of Thailand on Wednesday.
OR initially offered to sell 2.609 billion shares, with 300 million shares for existing PTT shareholders, 1.714 billion shares for institutional investors and 595 million shares for retail investors.
If the green-shoe option is approved, the company should sell up to 3 billion shares. Share sales for PTT shareholders remain at 300 million shares, while those for institutional investors decrease to 1.662 billion shares. Retail investors will be allowed to buy up to 1.036 billion shares.
"The reason OR can attract such a large number of new investors to the market is because it's a business people are familiar with," said Thaweelarp Rittapirom, executive vice-president of BBL.
Energy Minister Supattanapong Punmeechaow also backs more share sales to retail investors, saying he wants people to access OR ownership.
Sales of 3 billion shares should allow OR to raise 54 billion baht in funds.
The company said earlier it plans to spend the money expanding non-oil businesses, including Cafe Amazon coffee shops.
After the IPO and the stock's first day of trade in the market, expected later this month, PTT's shareholding in OR will stand at 25%.