Gulf Energy Development Public Company Limited (SET: GULF) impressively issued THB 35 billion debentures in August 2022. The fully-subscribed debentures are testaments to investors’ confidence in GULF’s present performance as well as future prospects. Such funding will ensure GULF can smoothly proceed with its plan to expand its businesses both domestically and internationally.
According to Ms. Yupapin Wangviwat, Chief Financial Officer of GULF – the internationally recognized energy company, GULF’s offering of its unsubordinated and unsecured debentures was a huge success and the company raised THB 35 billion as planned. The strategy to split the transaction into 2 offerings within the same month was intentional with the aim to capture a wide variety of investor types and cater to the different needs of different investor groups. For this transaction, GULF offered the debentures not only to its existing investor base of institutional and high-net worth investors, but also to the general public for the first time, and the debentures were well received by all investors equally.
Among the THB 35 billion raised, THB 11 billion was placed to institutional and high-net worth investors via bookbuilding at the end of July 2022 with subscription dates on 2-4 August 2022. The amount was split between 3 tranches i.e. 3-, 5-, and 10-year tenors with average coupon across all tranches of 3.57% per annum. The remaining THB 24 billion was placed via public offering on 15-17 August 2022 with the tenors of 4 years and 7 years and coupon rates of 3.50% and 3.90% per annum respectively. For each tenor of the public offering portion, investors can choose based on their own preference and convenience between the digital version of the debentures offered through Krung Thai Bank Public Company Limited’s “Pao Tang” Application or the “traditional” version which could be subscribed through 9 financial institutions: Bangkok Bank Public Company Limited, Bank of Ayudhya Public Company Limited, KASIKORNBANK Public Company Limited, The Siam Commercial Bank Public Company Limited, CIMB Thai Bank Public Company Limited, TMBThanachart Bank Public Company Limited, United Overseas Bank (Thai) Public Company Limited, Kiatnakin Phatra Securities Public Company Limited, and Maybank Securities (Thailand) Public Company Limited. Final subscription for digital bonds via Pao Tang was THB 3 billion and for “traditional” bonds was an overwhelming THB 21 billion.
The overwhelming demand was clear evidence of investors’ confidence in GULF’s strong performance and future growth potential in addition to its good credit rating for both the company and the debentures, which have been rated A (stable outlook) and A- respectively by TRIS Rating Co., Ltd. on 21 June 2022.
“We would like to thank all our investors for their interests in GULF’s debentures. We also appreciated all 10 financial institutions who acted as joint-lead arrangers for their efforts in making this transaction such a success. After this, the company will continue to expand its business both domestically and internationally to create sustainable growth”
