Thai Tycoon to Create $20 Billion Firm With Energy and Telecoms Merger

Thai billionaire entrepreneur Sarath Ratanavadi plans to merge his energy and telecoms companies in a new firm, which will be worth around $20.5 billion.

Ratanavadi, with a net worth of $10.8 billion as of July 17, owns Gulf Energy Development, one of Thailand’s largest power producers by installed capacity. The businessman, number 5 on Forbes’ list of Thailand’s richest persons and number 200 on the Forbes Billionaires list, also owns Intouch Holdings, the conglomerate that owns Thailand’s most valuable mobile phone operator.

Ratanavadi is the CEO of Gulf Energy Development, which he took public in 2017, raising more than $700 million in the process. This was Thailand’s biggest initial public offering (IPO) in a decade.

A few years later, in 2021, Ratanavadi bought stakes in telecom giant InTouch Holdings and its wireless unit, Advanced Info Service (AIS).

Now Gulf Energy Development and InTouch Holdings plan to merge, the companies said in regulatory filings.  

In case the planned merger receives all approvals, it will result in a new public limited company, which will assume all assets, liabilities, rights, duties, and responsibilities of Gulf Energy Development and InTouch.

The merger is aimed at reducing the complexity of the shareholding structure and will help increase management efficiency and flexibility in business operations, Gulf Energy Development said.

Based on the two companies’ stock prices at market close on Tuesday, the new company that would result from the mega merger would have a market value of $20.5 billion, according to estimates by Bloomberg.

Currently, Gulf Energy Development is a holding company investing in a portfolio of three core businesses—gas-fired power generation and renewable energy Business; Infrastructure & Utilities Business, and Digital Business.

“Gulf Energy has made very clear it would like to recreate its brand as the leading telecom, technology and digital player rather than power producer,” Varorith Chirachon, an executive director at SCB Asset Management, told Bloomberg.

By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com

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