The five brands are Cartier, IWC, Schaffhausen, Piaget, Penerai, and Jaeger-LeCoultre.

The contract period starts from the second half of next year, the release said.

Singapore-based InstaReM is expected to further improve Kasikornbank’s (KBank) efficiency in the transfer of retail funds, leading to a rapid growth in both transaction volumes and value, Beacon VC’s managing director Thanapong Na Ranong said.

He added that Beacon VC and Indonesian Telkomsel’s MDI Ventures have jointly invested in InstaReM – a fast-growing fintech start-up in Asean – which has also received funding from leading investors such as Vertex Ventures, Fullerton Financial Holdings, Global Founders Capital, GSR Ventures and SBI-FMO.

“We have been following InstaReM for some time now and are happy to be part of their exciting journey,” Thanapong added. “The Series C round of investment totalling Bt1.5 billion is expected to close in January and the company aims to list on a stock exchange in 2021.”

Currently, inward and outward funds transfers in Thailand total 11.8 million transactions a year, valued at Bt2.15 trillion. Of these transactions, around one million are conducted via KBank, with a combined value of Bt400 billion a year.

Prajit Nanu, co-founder and CEO of InstaReM, said: “The promise we’ve made to our customers, from day one, is that we’ll always be transparent, and we’ll forever give them the best value we can to help them do more with their money. No matter where they are in the world, and no matter if they’re a business or an individual, we want to be their champions. That’s why we were one of the first Asian remittance providers to venture outside Asia, and that’s also why we’ve been able to secure this historic round of funding.

“In less than four years, we have become the payment backbone for emerging markets for banks and other global financial institutions and have clients across almost all continents. We are still a young firm but a hungry one, this new round of funding enables us to accelerate growth by launching new products.”

InstaReM’s latest fundraising will add greater efficiency, boost growth in its existing markets and help it enter new markets like Japan and Indonesia, where it hopes to receive licences by yearend. This round of capital raising will also help InstaReM develop new products in response to the evolving requirements of customers, including small-scale businesses and retailers.

Last quarter, the company signed up with 20 new financial institutions, which will start using its service in the first quarter of 2019 at an expected monthly volume of Bt6 billion to Bt8 billion.

The state energy giant also expects to see the results of its bid for petroleum fields in the United Arab Emirates and Malaysia early next year.

Phongsthorn Thavisin, chief executive officer of PTTEP, said that the company has readjusted its proactive investment strategy for next year, planning to invest and explore in nine petroleum fields. Most of these fields are in Malaysia and Myanmar. As a result of this investment strategy, it expects its unit cost to increase to $31-$32 per barrel from this year’s $30 per barrel. This year, PTTEP explored only one field.

The company forecasts next year’s Dubai crude price at US$70 per barrel on average, an appropriate price for both producers and consumers, it said.

The target for petroleum sales for next year is about 320,000 barrels per day, up from this year’s target of 310,000 barrels, as PTTEP will fully realise sales from output from the Bongkot field for the whole of 2019. This will be due to the company having increasing its stake in the field to 66.66 per cent and raising its production capacity by 10 per cent to 30,000 barrels per day in the Sirikit oil field S1 project next year. This year’s production capacity for the Sirikit oil field S1 project is about 27,000 barrels per day.

The company expects to know the result of the bids for petroleum exploration and production rights in UAE and Malaysia in early 2019, while seeking an opportunity for mergers and acquisitions in ongoing petroleum fields in the Middle East and Southeast Asia.

In Thailand, the company expressed confidence that it will win auctions for the Bongkot and Erawan concessions. Currently, Chevron operates the Erawan gas block and PTTEP operates the Bongkot concession, which will expire in 2022 and 2023, respectively.

Phongsthorn said that next year the company will have to make a final investment decision for four fields: the Mozambique Rovuma Offshore Area 1 expected in mid-2019, the Southwest Vietnam Block B & 48/95 and Block 52/97 project, the Algeria Hassi Bir Rekaiz project and the Ubon field under the Contract 4 project.

“Now, PTTEP is reviewing its five-year investment plan (2019-23) and expects a clearer investment plan in January 2019,” Phongsthorn said.

He said that the company is revising its operating plan for the Mariana Oil Sands project in Canada to cope with the current situation of high costs; it is considering a sale. The company is also finalising a preliminary engineering study for the Cash Maple gas field in Australia and is studying the proper direction for the project development.

PTTEP is considering selling the project or finding a partner for investment. Based on experience, operating in Australia is not easy, Phongsthorn said.

 This phase will provide for 80 MW of power under a 20-year concession. The company aims to start construction next year and for power distribution to begin in 2021.

Sutee Sukruan, chief executive officer of BPP, said that the company had made Vietnam its first priority for overseas investment. Recently, the company invested in its wholly-owned wind farm project at Soc Trang province in the country’s south. This wind farm project consists of two phases, with the first providing for 80 MW of power.

Of the total, the first 30 MW section will see construction start in the middle of next year; it is due to be completed in 2020. Construction for a further 30 MW section and the remaining 20 megawatts is expected to be completed in 2021, with power distribution to start that year.

The second phase of 120 megawatts will be located in an area close to the first phase and is undergoing a detailed study.

The company expects to spend US$2 million per megawatt, totalling US$400 million, or about Bt13 billion for the whole wind farm project in Vietnam.

“The wind farm project has a concession of 20 years and we expect the first phase of 80 MW to reach break-even within 8 to 10 years,” Sutee said.

BPP is also studying solar and wind farms projects in Vietnam. which plans to raise power production capacity from 43,000 MW to 130,000 MW by 2030. Of the total, 21 per cent will be produced from alternative energy.

Of those to be produced from alternative energy, about 6,000 MW will come from wind farms, 12,000 MW from solar farms and the rest from other types of alternative energy.

The company is conducting a feasibility study on investing in coal-fired power plants after selling coal to power plants in Vietnam for a long period. In 2018, BPP has sold 1.3 million tonnes of coal to Vietnam.

“The company’s advantages are our direct discussions with the Vietnamese government, while others have acquired licences from local investors. We have given the Vietnamese government more confidence. We’ve also made long-term investment in other countries, focusing on building good relationships with local communities,” Sutee said.

Aside from Vietnam, BPP plans to invest in the Philippines and Indonesia, which are seeing high growth for power usage and have been destinations for Banpu’s coal sales for a long time, he said. Now, BPP is studying details for investment in both countries.

In 2019, BPP plans to invest $90 million on power plants in total. Of this outlay, $30 million will be spent on a solar farm project in Japan, $50 million in China and $10 million on a wind farm in Vietnam.

In the third quarter of this year, BPP’s earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation rose 6 per cent year on year to Bt1.25 billion and net profit increased 12 per cent year on year to Bt940 million.

The eighteen companies are PTT Global Chemical Plc, Gulf Energy Development Plc, Unique Engineering and Construction Plc, CHEC (Thai) Co Ltd, Italian-Thai Development Plc, China Harbour Engineering Co Ltd, Tokyo Gas Co Ltd, PTT Tank Terminal Co Ltd, Sinohydro Corporation Ltd, Thai Tank Terminal Co Ltd, Mitsui & Co Ltd, China Communication Construction Co Ltd, China Railway Construction Corporation Ltd, EGAT Plc, Boskalis International BV, Ratchaburi Electricity Generating Holding Plc, Vopak LNG Holding BV, and Sahakarn Wisavakorn Co Ltd.

She added that IEAT will brief them on the conditions on November 27, before taking them on a site visit on November 28.

Under the TOR, the companies must submit their proposals on February 6, 2019 and the final winner will be announced before the end of the month. Construction of the project will take place between 2020 to 2024, she said.