SET / CREDIT IPO

Editorial staff

CREDIT will be listed and start trading on SET on Feb 9

The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) will list Thai Credit Bank Plc (CREDIT), a commercial bank focusing on microfinance and micro loans for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) on February 9.

SET senior executive vice president Manpong Senanarong said that CREDIT will be listed and start trading on SET in the financial industry group, banking sector under the ticker symbol “CREDIT”. The company has a market capitalization at its initial public offering (IPO) of 35.65 billion baht (approx. US$ 1.00 billion).

Manpong Senanarong

CREDIT has been centered on providing nanofinance, microfinance and micro SME finance services for 15 years to small business operators and vendors who have no access to formal loans. These people are large in number and play important roles in driving the country’s economy.

The bank has strong teams for loan analyses and risk management with 527 branches nationwide and application-based digital channel. This has led to the bank’s robust credit growth, with good loan asset quality.

As of September 30, 2023, its net interest margin (NIM) was as high as 8.76 %. The bank has more than 370,000 loan accounts and is ready to launch more complex services after receiving an approval from the Ministry of Finance for a full-scale commercial bank operations on August 17, 2023.

CREDIT has a paid-up capital of 6.15 billion baht with a par value of 5 baht each. The bank offered 254.13 million IPO shares, of which 189.42 million were existing common shares held by OCA Investment Holdings I Pte. Ltd. and 64.71 million newly issued shares.

The IPO shares were allocated to persons at the underwriters’ discretion, the bank’s related persons, employees and patrons during January 23-26, 2024, and institutional investors who subscribed to the shares locally, book building participating juristic persons and investors (including cornerstone investors) who subscribed to the IPO shares in overseas market during January 31-February 2, 2024, at 29 baht each for a raised fund of 1.88 billion baht.

CIMB THAI Bank pcl is the financial advisor CGS International Securities (Thailand) Co., Ltd., Bualuang Securities Plc and Maybank Securities (Thailand) Plc are the lead underwriters.

CREDIT chief executive officer Winyou Chaiyawan said the listing on the SET will enable the bank to grow according to its business and social impact strategies. The bank will enhance its competitiveness and add value in a long run to become a leader in microfinance business in Thailand. The proceeds arising from the fundraising will be used to expand credit portfolio and upgrade its information technology system for digital transformation and develop its IT security and infrastructure.

CREDIT’s three largest shareholders after the IPO are V.C. Property group (60.40% percent), Winyou Chaiyawan (6.40 %) and Veeravet Chaiyawan’s group (1.90 %). The IPO price was based on book building and was equivalent to the price-to-book value ratio (P/BV ratio) of 2.12 times. The book value per share, which represented the book value as of September 30, 2023, divided by fully diluted shares stood at 13.70 baht.