Thailand tops ASEAN investment spending
Thailand’s major companies and business tycoons were the top deal makers in foreign investment in ASEAN in 2012 so far.
The record $25 billion of Thai purchases abroad is more than in the previous 12 years combined and behind only Japan and China in the Asia-Pacific region, data compiled by Bloomberg shows.
Pushing up the figure to a new record was Charoen Pokphand (CP) Group’s $9.4 billion purchase of the 15.57 per cent stake of HSBC in China’s Ping An Insurance Group of China. The deal with HSBC Holdings was announced on December 5. Billionaire Dhanin Chearavanont has built CP Group into a global business with operations in agriculture, retailing, trading, telecommunications, property development and petrochemicals, employing more than 250,000 people.
State-controlled PTT Pcl, Thailand’s biggest energy company and the parent of PTT Exploration, led acquirers with $5.7 billion of deals since 2010. That tally includes PTT Exploration’s takeover of Cove Energy and an acquisition by PTT Global Chemical PCL.
With billionaire Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi attempting a $11.4 billion takeover of Singapore’s Fraser & Neave, Thai acquirers are now also involved in two of the four largest cross-border deals by Asian companies this year.
The overseas investment is deemed as a factor to help lessen the baht appreciation, in light of capital inflows from developed economies to emerging markets. Without outflows, the baht could have strengthened more. The Thai baht on December 6 stood at 30.68 per US dollar.
Cash held by Thai companies has quadrupled in the past decade, according to Bloomberg. Total cash holdings of the 422 non-financial members of the Bangkok SET Index for which data is available reached $18 billion as of September 30. The companies held about $4.4 billion in cash at the end of 2002.
[caption id="attachment_5730" align="alignleft" width="300"] PTT Group was among the biggest deal makers in Southeast Asia in 2012[/caption] Thailand's major companies and business tycoons were the top deal makers in foreign investment in ASEAN in 2012 so far. The record $25 billion of Thai purchases abroad is more than in the previous 12 years combined and behind only Japan and China in the Asia-Pacific region, data compiled by Bloomberg shows. Pushing up the figure to a new record was Charoen Pokphand (CP) Group’s $9.4 billion purchase of the 15.57 per cent stake of HSBC in China’s Ping An Insurance Group of...
Thailand’s major companies and business tycoons were the top deal makers in foreign investment in ASEAN in 2012 so far.
The record $25 billion of Thai purchases abroad is more than in the previous 12 years combined and behind only Japan and China in the Asia-Pacific region, data compiled by Bloomberg shows.
Pushing up the figure to a new record was Charoen Pokphand (CP) Group’s $9.4 billion purchase of the 15.57 per cent stake of HSBC in China’s Ping An Insurance Group of China. The deal with HSBC Holdings was announced on December 5. Billionaire Dhanin Chearavanont has built CP Group into a global business with operations in agriculture, retailing, trading, telecommunications, property development and petrochemicals, employing more than 250,000 people.
State-controlled PTT Pcl, Thailand’s biggest energy company and the parent of PTT Exploration, led acquirers with $5.7 billion of deals since 2010. That tally includes PTT Exploration’s takeover of Cove Energy and an acquisition by PTT Global Chemical PCL.
With billionaire Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi attempting a $11.4 billion takeover of Singapore’s Fraser & Neave, Thai acquirers are now also involved in two of the four largest cross-border deals by Asian companies this year.
The overseas investment is deemed as a factor to help lessen the baht appreciation, in light of capital inflows from developed economies to emerging markets. Without outflows, the baht could have strengthened more. The Thai baht on December 6 stood at 30.68 per US dollar.
Cash held by Thai companies has quadrupled in the past decade, according to Bloomberg. Total cash holdings of the 422 non-financial members of the Bangkok SET Index for which data is available reached $18 billion as of September 30. The companies held about $4.4 billion in cash at the end of 2002.
That is definitely a surprise as I thought the Philippines would be leading the charge followed by Malaysia. Though the new government is very aggressive in expanding and helping local Thai companies to push outside of their borders and into neighboring countries with incentives as well as political support.