Thai Beverage plans Singapore IPO of up to $3 billion - sources

Thai Beverage plans Singapore IPO of up to $3 billion - sources

By Anshuman Daga, Scott Murdoch

FILE PHOTO: A man rides his motorcycle past a beer factory belonging to Thai Beverage in Ayutthaya province, some 80 km (50 miles) north of Bangkok September 11, 2012. REUTERS/Sukree Sukplang

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Thai billionaire Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi’s Thai Beverage (TBEV.SI) is planning a Singapore IPO of some of its regional beer assets in a float that could raise $2 billion to $3 billion next year, sources familiar with the matter said on Friday.

The Singapore-listed company has tapped banks for the listing of a unit which could house its beer assets in Vietnam and Thailand, a source said on condition of anonymity as he was not authorised to speak to the media. Details of the fund raising have not been finalised, he said.

The company is working with Bank of America, Citigroup, DBS, HSBC and Morgan Stanley, according to two sources, on a potential IPO that one person said could occur mid next year.

Thai Bev’s shares were put on a trading halt pending an announcement after the stock rose 5.2 percent.

A Singapore IPO of just over $2 billion would make it the biggest in the city-state in about six years, while an issue of more than $3 billion would rank as the largest since 2010, according to Refinitiv data.

Thai Bev did not immediately respond to a query from Reuters.

Citigroup, HSBC and Morgan Stanley declined to comment on the banks’ participation in the deal, while Bank of America and DBS did not immediately respond.

Citing unnamed sources, Bloomberg earlier reported that Thai Bev is said to consider a Singapore IPO of its brewery business that could value its unit at as much as $10 billion.