Dr. Piyasvasti Amranand, Chairman of the rehabilitation plan administrator of Thai Airways International Public Company Limited (SET: THAI) revealed that the company is preparing to submit a registration statement to offer for sales of securities and draft a filing document to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), as part of the plan to offer newly issued shares by the end of September in accordance to the rehabilitation plan.
The process includes two key components: 1) converting debt to equity for creditors, such as the Ministry of Finance, financial institutions, and debenture holders, at a rate of THB 2.5452 per share, and 2) issuing a total of 9,822 million shares through the rights offering. In the event that the offer is undersubscribed, the remaining shares will be made available to employees and/or private placements (PP) at higher rates.
Investors participating in the offer through debt-to-equity conversion at THB 2.5452 per share will be subject to a one-year lock-up period. During the first six months, only up to 25% of the total shares can be sold, with the aim of preventing excessive selling pressure on THAI’s stocks when trading resumes and to safeguard the interests of investors considering the rights offer.
Meanwhile, the management also addresses challenges related to the company’s retained deficit, which stood at THB 73,129.18 million as of June 2024, leading to the company’s inability to distribute dividend payments. This situation may have a detrimental impact on investor sentiment towards the offer, which is why the debt-to-equity conversion is essential to the rehabilitation plan.
Dr. Piyasvasti expects the process to complete in early 2025, which will enable the company to distribute dividend payments and later resume trading in the Thai stock exchange.
