Bangchak Corporation Public Company Limited (SET: BCP) had announced plans to issue a tender offer aimed at acquiring the remaining 19% of shares in Bangchak Sriracha Public Company Limited (SET: BSRC) that it currently does not hold, which translates to approximately 631.86 million shares.
This strategic move will be underpinned by the issuance of new BCP shares, swapped at a rate of 6.5 BSRC shares for every one BCP share. This approach is expected to elevate BCP’s total shares outstanding by nearly 7%, reaching a total of 1,474.13 million shares.
If BSRC shareholders decide to sell all of their holdings it would lead to a complete ownership in what formerly known as Esso (Thailand) Public Company Limited in which Bangchak acquired a majority from a tender offer.
BCP is considered Thailand’s second largest energy group behind the state-owned enterprise PTT Group in terms of gas stations and refinery capacity.
Thus, it could be an attractive investment for some investors, especially a prominent fund management company from Singapore — Capital Asia Investments (CAI).
The Singaporean fund management firm made its move late last year by increasing its shareholding in BCP at 5.9394% as of December 20, 2024 to 10% by the end of the year. This raised some eyebrows in the market due to the aggressiveness of Capital Asia Investments in acquiring Bangchak and whether the fund management firm is done pursuing Bangchak.
If Capital Asia Investments wants to take it up a notch, a tender offer for 15.30% stake from the Social Security Office (SSO), BCP’s major shareholder, is not impossible though it is highly unlikely that the SSO will sell its entire stake. The acquisition through Vayupak Funds is highly unlikely.
The SSO had made several transactions in selling and acquiring BCP last year, though the shareholding remains around 15%.
The share price of BCP was trading around THB30.00 per share mid December last year. The price started to pick up after the acquisition of Capital Asia Investments. Since then, the share price has jumped 32% to THB35.75 per share.
