SET-listed Gulf Energy Development acquired a 23.32% stake in InTouch Holdings Plc through a 25-day tender offer that ended on Wednesday, becoming the largest shareholder in the tech and telecom-oriented holding firm with a 42.25% stake.
The country's biggest private power producer by market value reported the result of the tender offer to the Stock Exchange of Thailand on Thursday.
However, Kasikorn Securities (KS) indicated Gulf is likely to continue to purchase shares of InTouch through the stock exchange to ensure it holds at least a 50% stake for full management control.
Pisut Ngamvijitvong, senior equity analyst at KS, said the share price of InTouch is likely to swing between 63 and 65 baht after Gulf's tender offer ended.
Continued purchases can be pursued as the Securities and Exchange Commission only prohibits a tender offeror from buying shares of its targeted firm at higher prices than the tender offer price for a year.
Gulf made the conditional voluntary tender offer for 81.07% or 2,599.72 million shares of total issued and paid-up InTouch shares on June 29. The tender offer price is set at 65 baht per share.
The tender offer ended Wednesday and payment is slated for Aug 11.
According to Mr Pisut, InTouch's share price on Thursday slightly increased from the day before as the market believed Gulf would still own less than 50% of InTouch after the tender concluded.
The share price climbed 50 satang to 63 baht in trade worth 498 million baht on Thursday.
The rising share price eased concerns of some observers that it would plunge after the tender ended because of the holding company discount on pricing, he said.
"This is positive for the short-term price performance," said Mr Pisut.
Gulf is scheduled to meet securities analysts on Aug 24 to discuss further plans.
On July 27, Gulf reported it acquired 9.92% of preliminary tendered shares. The purchase increased its stake in InTouch to 28.85% from 18.93% before the tender offering, making it the largest shareholder of InTouch.
Singtel Global Investment held 21% before tender offer began. On July 30, Singtel revealed it did not accept Gulf's tender offer for InTouch shares.
Singtel also indicated it is looking forward to working with Gulf to further develop InTouch and the country's largest mobile carrier Advanced Info Service (AIS), which is 40.45% owned by InTouch.
Gulf is now the largest shareholder of InTouch, with Singtel from Singapore holding a 21.1% stake and Singtel's parent Temasek Holdings holding another 5.2%, said Mr Pisut.
According to KS, the target share price of InTouch is 67.69 baht in 2022, driven by business synergy between Gulf and InTouch. However, there is a downside risk if Gulf, Singtel and Temasek are unable to work together to grow InTouch, he said.
Gulf also made a tender offer for AIS shares at 120.93 baht per share. The offer, which started on June 29, is due to end on Aug 13.
AIS's share price dropped 3.50 baht to 175.5 baht on Thursday in trade worth 1.35 billion baht.
The decline in AIS shares was caused by a negative second-quarter operating result related to business management during the pandemic, according to Mr Pisut.
AIS reported second-quarter revenue of 42.7 billion baht, up 1.2% year-on-year but down 6.8% quarterly. The company said its mobile revenue declined 1.5% year-on-year and 0.9% quarterly to 29 billion baht as economic woes took a toll on consumer purchasing power.
Meanwhile, InTouch reported a net profit of 2.8 billion baht in the second quarter, including core profit of 2.59 billion, which rose 2.9% year-on-year and 3% quarterly thanks to a higher contribution from AIS.
The company also gained 71 million baht from the exchange rate, 51 million from startup revaluation as well as 106 million from other income during the period.
In the first half this year, InTouch gained 7.53 billion baht in total revenue, down 9% year-on-year. Its net profit fell 4.3% year-on-year to 5.47 billion baht.