Weerawong, Chinnavat & Peangpanor Ltd. (Weerawong C&P)
represented Bangkok Mass Transit System Plc. (BTSC), the concessionaire that operates the sky train
system in Bangkok, and its parent company BTS Group Holdings Plc. (BTSG), on the establishment and
initial public offering (IPO) of the investment units of BTS Rail Mass Transit Growth Infrastructure
Fund (BTSGIF) in Thailand and internationally. With an offering size of USD 2.1 billion
(approximately THB 62.5 billion), BTSGIF is Thailand’s biggest IPO ever, and is the third largest
IPO globally in 2013. BTSGIF units commenced trading on the Stock Exchange of Thailand on 19 April
2013.
The underlying assets transferred by BTSC to BTSGIF are net farebox
revenue for the remaining period of 17 years of the Concession Agreement granted by the Bangkok
Metropolitan Administration. BTSG has provided BTSGIF a support and guarantee of the performance of
BTSC and also subscribed for one-third of the units.
The offering
received a strong response from local investors in Thailand and institutional investors around the
world. Despite the current economic malaise in many global markets, BTSGIF had almost 56,900
subscription applications from General Subscribers (retail investors), totaling approximately THB 16
billion, considered to be the highest number of subscription applications in an equity IPO to retail
investors in Thailand. BBL Asset Management is the management company for BTSGIF, while Phatra
Securities acted as the sole domestic book runner, and Morgan Stanley & Co. International, and
UBS AG (Hong Kong Branch) were joint international book runners.
The
project, led by Peangpanor Boonklum, Partner, involved practice expertise in capital markets,
general corporate work, mergers and acquisitions, and banking and finance. Key members of the
project team included Associates: Kom Vachiravarakarn, Karnpitcha Kongkiattiwong, Jongtip
Tangsripairoje, Kongkoch Yongsavasdikul, Pratumporn Somboonpoonpol, and Pariyapol
Kamolsilp.