The 200-bed hospital is run by Aryu International Health Care Company Limited, in which THG owns 40 per cent of the shares.

Ga Mone Pwint Company Limited owns another 50 per cent, and Aryu Ananta Medical Services Company Limited holds the remaining 10 per cent.

Sorepla is one of the largest recyclers in Europe, operating three production lines at this facility that handle up to 52,000 tonnes of recycled polyethylene terephthalate (rPET), recycled high-density polyethylene and food-grade pellets per year.

This acquisition is in line with IVL’s objective of long-term sustainability, it said.

Acquiring Sorepla will further solidify its position as a leader in recycling in Europe and open up new opportunities to serve increasing demand for food-grade rPET.

While IVL has a significant recycling presence in France through its subsidiary Wellman France Recyclage in Verdun, Sorepla gives the company additional capabilities to deliver rPET to meet increasing demand among major brand owners for more sustainable packaging.

The company has developed Jin Wellbeing on a large site in Greater Bangkok.

“Our mission is to return healthy elderly people back to society,” said Kobkan Junhasavasdikul, chief medical officer of Jin Wellbeing Country. “We are not a property developer but a company specialising in the healthcare business.”

Kobkan, who has been working in integrative wellness for 15 years, believes that the project will serve the needs of Thailand, given the Kingdom’s transformation into an ageing society.

The aim is to support people aged over 60 who are deemed active or with assisted-|ageing needs to buy residential units.

The project comprises 1,380 residential units, an aged-care centre and a wellness |centre.

The aged-care centre will offer services for those who need assistance from medical staff. The wellness centre will serve as a place to exercise, perform mindfulness meditation, or take part in aqua-therapy and other activities designed to help the elderly make changes towards a healthier lifestyle.

“We want to help the elderly to achieve good physical and mental fitness so that they can continue working – if they wish – to earn a living until they reach 80 years old,” Kobkan said.

The starting price of units in the project is Bt4 million, which is quite expensive when compared with nearby ordinary condominiums in the Rangsit area of Pathumthani province, north of central Bangkok, concedes Thitaree Yoovidhya, chief marketing officer.

Apart from the medical and wellness services, the project also offers natural space and the residents can even grow their own produce in the small vegetable farm on the estate, she added.

Kasikorn Research Centre estimates that investment in large retirement community projects between 2018 and 2020 would reach about Bt6 billion, leading to accumulated investment of about Bt27 billion by 2020.

Kasikorn said many investors have seized on the potential of businesses that cater to the growing number of senior citizens, whose ranks make up almost 20 per cent of the population.

The research centre said that investment in retirement estates in suburban Bangkok and other provinces between 2012 and 2017 was Bt17.7 billion.

This took accumulated investment in the sector up to last year to Bt21 billion.

There are a number of segments within the market. One such segment provides houses designed for people in the active ageing category.

Housing of this kind can incorporate a universal design that is suitable for all family members living with elderly parents.

Developers are also targeting foreign buyers, given that a large proportion of Thai senior citizens have low incomes.

The number of elderly people with an annual income of at least Bt300,000 is estimated at 530,000, out of a total population of old people projected at 12.3 million by 2020, up from 419,968 and 9.4 million, respectively, in 2014.

Over the long term, Kasikorn predicts that people will save more for retirement, so the ranks of seniors with annual income of at least Bt300,000 would grow to 730,000, out of an overall population of 17.7 million old people, by 2030. This would offer market opportunities for investment in retirement communities.

The government plans to build around 200,000 units for the elderly across the country in the next four to five years.

The Treasury Department, the National Housing Authority and the Ministry of Social Development and Humanity Security are responsible for this project, which is |aimed at serving low- and middle-income earners.

“Thai Airways would like to increase the number of flights from Bangkok to Jakarta and Bali, but there is concern about facilities and slot times in Jakarta and Denpasar,” Thai Airways’ district sales manager in Jakarta, Abdul Azis Maliki, said on the sidelines of an event to promote the airline’s Live TV onboard entertainment in Bangkok recently.

Thai Airways cooperates with tourism boards in South Korea, Japan, Dubai, India, Australia and Europe, and its base in Bangkok has many connecting flights from various countries to Jakarta and Bali, he added. Abdul Aziz responded to a statement made by Indonesian Tourism Minister Arief Yahya, who was seeking cooperation with tourism stakeholders in Bangkok. Thailand welcomed 35 million tourists in 2017.

Abdul Azis called on the Indonesian government to cooperate with governments around the world.

“The Indonesian government needs to provide tourist boards with more information about the country. Indonesia also needs to improve tourism facilities, accommodation, transportation and safety,” he said.

In regard to Live TV, Thai Airways brand and marketing communication director, Kittiphong Sansomboon, said the introduction of the onboard entertainment in late May was part of efforts to provide additional services, not only for business class passengers but also for economy class fliers.

The banks’ operating performance was remarkably stable during the first half of the year, the company said.

S&P Global Ratings only took a small number of rating actions during the period,  these generally impacting rating outlooks and driven mainly by sovereign-support factors – and not bank-specific rating factors.

Moreover, the net negative rating outlook bias across the Asia-Pacific portfolio of over 300 rated financial institutions was  minus 4 per cent as of June 30, its lowest level in recent years.

“The small number of actions in the first half of fiscal 2018 affecting Asia-Pacific’s top 60 banks, and the stabilising net rating outlook bias, generally reflects our view that – with some noteworthy exceptions – the credit cycle is at its peak as it impacts the Asia-Pacific region’s financial institutions sector,” said Gavin Gunning, a credit analyst at S&P Global Ratings.

“The change in rating outlook to positive reflects the structural improvement in IRPC’s profitability owing to its higher operating

margins and refinery utilisation since the completion of its large-scale upgrading program,” explained Rachel Chua, a Moody’s assistant vice president and analyst.

IRPC’s $1.5 billion (Bt50 billion) capital expenditure programme was completed in phases during 2016-17. The refiner is now able to upgrade its loss-making fuel oil into higher-margin petroleum and petrochemical products.

According to the company, its refinery complexity has improved to 8.6 from 6.6, reflecting an increase in the value of its products.

Doderlein’s disruptive idea was to make money as easy to send as text messages. But that was in 2006, before smartphones had even been launched in the market. He got to work figuring out a way to bring his idea to life, and in 2010 he had his systems built, and had raised enough investment to start up Auka.

In 2010, Auka could interface with Visa and Mastercard, and make P2P payments and merchant payments. Yet, banks didn’t want to buy the system – so he switched gears and started selling to consumers, Doderlein said.

As he pursued his idea to focus on consumers, the company filed for a licence under the first Payment Services Directive and marketed to consumers in Norway as “mCash”, Doderlein recalls.

Following that launch, banks started approaching the company, seeking white-label deals and so his company moved back to B2B services. He sold the mCash brand and the customer base he’d built to Sparebank 1 Gruppen.

Today, Auka is a dedicated white-label mobile payments provider, working with banks in Europe and all over the world.

Mobile payment surged in popularity in the Scandinavian countries, with about 65 per cent of money payment transactions in the region using mobile payment. Up to 60 per cent of Norwegian payments are by the Vipps mobile application, up to 55 per cent of Swedes pay by the Swish mobile application, and 75 per cent of Danes use the MobilePay application, Doderlein said.

But Scandinavia is not alone in its shift to mobile payment, with consumers in other regions replacing money with disruptive systems. Alipay can boast 520 million users, with about 100 million active daily, while Google Tez recorded a 67 per cent Indian market share in m-payments in December 2017.

With the initial success of mobile payment, next up is to grow the frequency that people use digital wallets through adding under-served merchants to those accepting the cash alternative. And the next major step is the emergence of digital banks that monetise by tapping into retail and other high volume channels.

The disruption has arrived in Thailand, where people are now learning how to use mobile payment and shopping with a digital wallet. This will soon force the entire global banking sector to change their business model to digital banking, asserts Auko’s founder.

“If you do not change by yourself, others will force you to change and may be push you out of the industry,” Doderlein said.

Most Scandinavian banks have opted to get ahead of the cure and transform to mobile and digital banking, accompanied by changes in people’s financial actions. Thailand will also need to see both banks and their customers make changes to maximise the benefits from the new business model.

“Now, the world of payment has changed, and the banking sector is not in control of the opportunity. If a bank wants to stay in the business, it has to change itself,” Doderlein said.

When Suwipa was young she wanted to be a tour guide and she now sees parallels with her current job in guiding entrepreneurs to put scientific and technological advancements to work in realising their business ambitions.

“I like to take care of people and I see myself applying this attitude with guiding and travelling. When I thought about becoming a tour guide it was because I wanted to meet people and also have a way to explore the world,” Suwipa says. “I also wanted to have an opportunity to invite many people to travel to Thailand.”

After completing her secondary schooling, she chose to study for a bachelor of arts degree at Thammasat University. Suwipa graduated in March 1984 with Honor and King Bhumipol Scholarship awarded to the top student in the Major.

“At that time I wanted to be an interpreter at the United Nations and to explore the world and offer amazing information on Thailand to other people, so that they would explore Thailand and the rest of the world,” Suwipa says.

During her time at university, she also loved to take part in some of the many activities available on campus, including with her membership of the student club at Thammasat. She also took on roles as such as being a tutor for the |subjects of Eastern civilisation, Western civilisation and Thai civilisation.

These subjects enabled to her to learn about a broad range of civilisations and cultures, including dynamic culture, from the perspectives of these different cultures and civilisations. Indeed, she says she put some of the concepts she learnt to use in her personal life and later in the upbringing of her children.

“I very much enjoyed studying the subjects of Eastern civilisation, Western civilisation and Thai civilisation,” she says. “I gained A grades from the three subjects. I think that history tends to repeat itself, even though in many respects the behaviour of people, the world of the social sciences and the broader world has changed.”

Suwipa looks back with fondness at the recollection of her mother’s pride in the good grades achieved by her and her siblings. “My mum always said she worked hard to support her children through their years of study and asked only that we repay her by paying attention during our lessons and studying hard,” she says. Her mother’s attitude shone as an example to her when it came to Suwipa’s own children. She says she sought to impart her own love of learning to her four children. She saw it as her mission to prepare her children to become global citizens by acquiring the right life skills, including proficiency in English. And in this task she also remembered the guidance she received from her own teachers.

“I sought to prepare them well, equipping them with the necessary life skills and knowledge so that they will able to explore and find their own spots in life and make a difference,” Suwipa says.

Suwipa started her professional life as an investment promotion officer at the Board of Investment of Thailand (BOI), where she served in that role for one year. She distinguished herself by having been assessed as the No.1 candidate out of the 1,600 people who applied for that post at the BOI.

“I have been very lucky and gained a good opportunity when I worked at the BOI,” she says. “I was always excited by the opportunity to follow the lead of my boss in considering big international investment projects for our country. My job taught me to explore international business and this enabled me to study and learn along that pathway.”

After having worked at the BOI for that year, she won a Fulbright Scholarship to pursue an MBA in marketing and an MA in international trade at the State University of New York in Buffalo, New York, |in the United States.

“I chose to study marketing and the MA in international trade as I thought that these subjects covered very important roles that were necessary in the support government agencies to promote their activities and services to the public,” Suwipa says.

“I was also motivated by the thought that government offices need to utilise aggressive marketing skills to support their organisations in providing services to public. To achieve this, government agencies should have marketing arms to provide and promote their services to the public and to educate users.

“An aggressive marketing arm could also be put to work in inviting foreign direct investment into the country and, in this way, encourage the economic development of the country as a whole.”

Suwipa says that, given the fact that all countries are actively pursuing foreign direct investments, the professionalism behind the marketing campaigns is vital. “Foreign direct investment plays a very important role in supporting the development of the economy in our country,” she says.

In 1998, Suwipa joined the National Electronics and Computer Technology Centre (NECTEC) and worked in the field of marketing. In 1999, as the assistant director, she co-pioneered the establishment of Software Park Thailand, which is an agency under the National Science and Technology Development Agency (NSTDA). Working in the marketing arm, Suwipa first provided and then filled up to 13,000 square metres at Software Park for the incubation of proposals in the first year.

She continued to play a key role in aiding the development of Software Park and, in 2005, was appointed as the director of Software Park Thailand.

Currently, she is a vice president of the National Science and Technology Development Agency (NSTDA). She is in charge of overseeing marketing. Also, she plays a prominent role in the information technology (IT) and software sectors and has been elected president of the Asia-Oceania Software Park Alliance, and president of the Thai Business Incubator and Science Park Association (ThaiBISPA).

For her duties at the NSTDA, she is responsible for providing technology commercialisation, a process that takes forward promising ideas from the shelf, and is involved in industry engagement in order to attract entrepreneurs and industry players to work with the NSTDA in technology utilisation.

She also facilitates connections between private-sector organisations and the research and development services unit of the NSTDA and its network. Suwipa and her colleagues link knowledge and technology arising from research and development to support entrepreneurs in their need to keep abreast with new technology and the offerings from global competitors.

Moreover, she also supports technology entrepreneurs with different mechanisms such as the agency’s Technology Business Incubation scheme, a 300 per cent tax deduction for research and development spending, low-interest loans and joint investments. Also available to help entrepreneurs are the Research Gap Fund, the Thailand Innovation List, the Start-up Voucher programme, Thailand technology shows and business-matching events.

“Be the best you can be is the inspiration that I take in doing my job and focusing on Nation First in order to create a greater impact for the country,” Suwipa says.

“I also listen to feedback from our customers. These are people who contact our organisation such as entrepreneurs, investors and startup founders in terms of reading between the lines, so that I am able to profoundly understand our customers and provide our services to support demand and create satisfaction for them.”

Suwipa says she works as facilitator who can help to connect the dots for technology commercialisation and industry engagement between entrepreneurs and researchers. In this role, she is able to help with the facilitation and matching of  projects that are moved from the shelf to commercial application. She is also engaged in “strengthening the team with deliverables in order to create confidence for customers” and support the demands of business.

“I have people skills, connections, marketing skills and expertise in order to help connect the dots,” Suwipa says. “I help to match people who want to do business with researchers engaged in research and development projects. I also match projects and try to identify entrepreneurs and researchers who have a similar chemistry in their operations. In this way, they can join hands to bring research and development projects from the shelf to the commercial stage in a smooth manner. As a result, entrepreneurs are able to scale up their businesses in the next step.

“I think that as facilitator that connects the dots, I draw on the worlds of both the arts and science in seeking to solve the question of how to find the key to success for businesses,” Suwipa says.

She places great stress on her duty of industry engagement in order to offer technology transfers and technology commercialisation.

Suwipa says she has tried to find an easier path for entrepreneurs to access research and development projects, such as through the agency’s conducting of science and technology showcases.

She says that she is currently offering more than 500 projects that are earmarked for commercialisation as a means of supporting the demands of the market.

“I think that we are utilising the strength of our agency to create a greater impact for the country,” she says.

“Meanwhile, human resources play an important role in this collaboration. The collaboration will combine the various ways of business matching in order to strengthen the collaboration and create more economic benefits for the country.

“I think that the focus on human resources will empower people to show their efficiency and experience. I want to see the success of entrepreneurs that have utilised the mechanisms of government with eased access. The success of businesses and entrepreneurs is my success, too.”

Suwipa says she also has milestones on the path to guiding entrepreneurs to utilise the processes available to them under the mechanisms provided by the government. Further, they can benefit from the effect of a seamless network.

Suwipa says tries to listen to people and to her subordinates in order to find the right information and connect all the dots.

There are around 40 institutes across the government and private sectors that are participating in her plans for the creation of partnerships at home and abroad. Suwipa has benchmarked herself against these organisations in other countries.

“I think that the key to success of technology commercialisation starts with a mindset that focuses on a collaboration between the arts and science. This success comes from the collaboration between researchers and those with expertise in marketing to drive projects forward and make them happen in a win-win situation.

“My team prompted me to facilitate and provide easy access for entrepreneurs to support people who want to utilise technology and research and development projects. We are here to support technology businesses in the country and for me, personally, this helps me to live my life to the fullest.”

Suwipa has succeeded against the odds, having lost her father when she was aged just six. Her mother was left to take care of the four children on her own. But the decision of her family to choose Suwipa to be the family’s representative in pursing a career as a government officer has paid off handsomely. And aspiring entrepreneurs are now sharing in the benefits of that family decision.

CEO Dr Supamas Trivisvavet said the package includes three years worth Bt820 million with a coupon rate of 2.6 per cent a year, four years worth Bt910 million with a coupon rate of 2.8 per cent and 10 years worth Bt1.02 billion with a coupon rate of 4 per cent. The three debentures have been rated “A-“ by TRIS Rating this month, the firm said.

Supamas said the successful sales of the debentures reflects the confidence in the company as well as its solid performance and leadership in the construction and infrastructure development business in Thailand.

Funds acquired will be used to pay off debts as well as finance operations and basic infrastructure investment, both domestic and overseas.