Eastspring has an option to increase its ownership to 100 per cent in the future. As part of this acquisition, Eastspring has also entered into a distribution agreement with TMB to provide best-in-class investment solutions to their customers, according to Nic Nicandrou, chief executive of Prudential Corporation Asia.

He added that the acquisition of TMBAM, the fifth-largest asset manager in Thailand, with 10 billion ponds of assets under management which has grown by a market leading 26 per cent compound annual growth rate over the last three years, reinforces Prudential’s commitment to the Thai market. It also complements Prudential’s fast growing life insurance business and provides Eastspring with a unique opportunity to establish a significant third party presence in the largest and fastest growing mutual fund market in the ASEAN region. The completion of the transaction is subject to local regulatory approval.

By partnering with TMB, Thailand’s seventh largest bank by assets, with an extensive footprint of over 400 branches and six million customers, Eastspring will further enhance TMBAM’s strong track record of asset growth. These foundations provide an excellent position from which to capitalise on the attractive growth opportunities in Thailand’s mutual fund market arising from an expanding middle class, rising affluence, strong savings culture and a mutual fund penetration rate well below that in more developed markets, he said.

Prudential has operated in Thailand for more than 20 years through Prudential Life Assurance (Thailand) Public Company Limited. At 31 December 2017, Prudential served over 1.5 million customers in Thailand and managed more than Bt90 billion of assets on their behalf.

Eastspring is Asia’s leading retail asset manager with 139 billion ponds of assets under management and has been operating in Asia for almost 25 years. This acquisition expands Eastspring’s presence to 11 markets in Asia.

Guy Strapp, Chief Executive of Eastspring Investments, said “ this transaction enables us to further strengthen our unrivalled footprint in Asia. Eastspring has a long history of building successful partnerships and is ideally positioned to complement TMB’s strong local market position and distribution capabilities.

We see substantial growth opportunities in Thailand and this transaction offers the potential to mutually develop a broad range of ‘best-in-class’ investment solutions for the rapidly expanding Thai mutual fund market.”

TMB Bank’s chief executive officer Piti Tantakasem said that the company is delighted to announce this partnership with Prudential, an internationally renowned business.

“Prudential has a well-established presence in Thailand and we believe that, through this partnership with Eastspring, we will be able to better serve the needs of TMB’s customers.

Eastspring is an ideal partner to meet the growing investment needs of our customers by developing and offering local, regional and global investment solutions through its highly rated product offerings, he said.

Indorama Ventures has previously announced its agreement to acquire Avgol on May 14 2018.

The acquisition is well aligned with IVL’s strategy of pursuing accretive growth opportunities in the high value-added hygiene segment. Avgol is a leading manufacturer of high-performance non-wovens for hygiene applications serving the global baby diaper, adult incontinence and feminine hygiene markets.

Avgol offers a comprehensive range of non-woven fabrics and has broad expertise in developing and manufacturing customised solutions to address consumer requirements.

It has six production sites globally in Israel, the US, Russia, China and India, with a combined production capacity of 203,000 tonnes/annum, and has around 900 employees worldwide.

The acquisition offers extensive value creation and synergy within Indorama Ventures, including growth opportunities in adjacent segments through the strong innovation pipeline. The addition of Avgol reinforces IVL’s existing leading position in this segment.

IVL is now able to offer a full suite of personal hygiene-oriented non-woven products that best serve customer needs, the group’s chief executive officer Aloke Lohia said.

He added that the company is thrilled to have completed the acquisition of Avgol, and welcome Avgol’s employees to the Indorama Ventures family. This acquisition is another testament to the work of our team and their focus on providing the best value to our customers and driving long-term value creation for our shareholders.

Avgol is an excellent complement to the IVL’s HVA portfolio, and brings a unique expertise in high-performance nonwoven. Given their distinctive position and strong reputation in the personal hygiene segment, IVL now have significant presence in this high-growth market, and are well-positioned to capture new growth opportunities.”

The MoU signing took place recently at Blu-O Rhythm & Bowl, Siam Paragon, which is an entity under Major Cineplex Group.

Under the MoU, Major Group and RapidzPay will collaborate on developing the Point-of-Sale (POS) framework of integrating cryptocurrency assets payments into traditional established payment gateways to make payment for Major products and services more seamless, secure and efficient. RapidzPay provide corporate and personal payment solutions by using a decentralized blockchain platform. Cryptocurrencies holders can send their cryptocurrencies to the RapidzPay digital wallet via the mobile app, and in turn spend their cryptocurrencies to make purchases or send payments to their peers. Similarly, merchants can use RapidzPOS to collect both cryptocurrencies and fiat currencies, Major Cineplex Group’s director of marketing & relationship Chanya Tamrongweenichai said yesterday.

The outlook on the National Long-Term Rating is Stable.

At the same time, Fitch has assigned the company’s new senior unsecured debentures of up to Bt10 billion due 2022 a National Long-Term Rating of ‘A+(tha)’. Proceeds from the issue will be used to refinance existing debt. The notes are rated at the same level as SCC’s National Long-Term Rating as they constitute the direct, unsecured, unconditional and unsubordinated obligations of the company. A full list of rating actions is at the end of this commentary.

The Airports of Thailand Plc (AOT) gained the go-ahead for the ambitious plans from its board at a meeting on Wednesday.

An anonymous source from AOT said the third phase of work at Don Mueang airport – Bangkok’s No.2 international gateway – will cost Bt37.59 billion. The first phase of expansion at Chiang Mai International Airport will cost Bt15.82 billion. The construction of a passenger building on the site of the car park of the Association of Thai Travel Agents (ATTA) will have a budget of Bt207.11 million.

After receiving the AOT board’s approval, these projects under the master plan for airports will be proposed to the Ministry of Transport and the National Economic and Social Development Board before they are forwarded to the Cabinet for approval.

The third phase of the Don Mueang airport development project is scheduled to start this year, with work continuing until 2024, with the aim of boosting its annual capacity from 30 million passengers to 40 million.

The old passenger terminal building and concourse No.6 will be dismantled and the new 155,000-square-metre international passenger terminal building 3 will be constructed to accommodate 18 million passengers a year. Later, the passenger terminal building 1 will be improved for domestic routes and domestic passengers will be able to use services at the passenger terminal building 2.

Once completed, both passenger terminal buildings will have an annual capacity of 22 million passengers.

Expansion works

Under the third phase of the development plan, Don Mueang airport’s bays will increase from 114 to 142, with a plan to widen lanes and increase the number of parking spaces from 4,475 cars to 5,736.

For the Chiang Mai airport development project, work is due to begin this year and continue until 2022. It is aimed at boosting annual capacity from 8 million passengers to 16.5 million.

While the airport’s taxiways and aprons will be built with a plan to increase the number of bays from 12 to 31, an international passenger terminal building will be constructed. The existing passenger terminal building will be shifted to service domestic routes

Under the first phase, an office building with car parks, a building for utilities and an overpass to separate incoming and outgoing passengers will be built. The pipeline system for aircraft will also be expanded.

The parking areas will be enlarged to accommodate 3,000 cars. The existing capacity is for 800.