The era of Picnic cooking gas has come to an end now that World Gas (Thailand) has set up a new company to manage assets it acquired from bankrupt Picnic Gas (PICNI).
The new company, WP Energy Plc, is set to register with the Commerce Ministry on Nov 10 with capital of 2.76 billion baht.
WP will be the group's only firm listed on the bourse after the asset transfer from World Gas and Picnic is done.
Chomkamol Poompanmoung, acting chief executive of World Gas, told reporters yesterday that PICNI shares, now relegated to the non-performing group, would be renamed WP and resume trading next year.
Founded by the Lapvisuthisin family, Picnic last reported its results with a loss of 946 million baht for the first half of 2009. The firm has been the subject of numerous investigations since 2004.
The Securities and Exchange Commission accused Picnic and members of the Lapvisuthisin family of accounting fraud in 2005, but the case was dismissed in 2007 for lack of evidence.
Regulators filed a new complaint in 2009 against Suriya Lapvisuthisin, a deputy commerce minister in the Thaksin Shinawatra government, for colluding to defraud Picnic in the transfer of holdings in World Gas to another company before entering rehabilitation. Mr Suriya has been a fugitive ever since.
World Gas, another leading cooking gas distributor, was once wholly owned by Picnic but later transferred to Asset Million, a company set up by Picnic itself before it entered into debt restructuring.
Before the entry of World Gas, a group of investors led by property tycoon Pimol Srivikorn made a pitch to buy Picnic and pay 1.7 billion baht in debt owed to creditors, but that deal faltered.
Under a debt restructuring, World Gas purchased 1.7 billion baht in new shares. Proceeds went to pay creditors, who received an additional 100 million shares in a debt-equity swap. As a result, creditors held 5% of the restructured company.
Picnic's shareholders later agreed with financial advisers to let the company merge with World Gas.
Yesterday, shareholders also agreed to rename and merge the assets of the two firms under a single entity, WP, keeping only the World Gas brand.
The Picnic brand is to be phased out of the market over three years, with gas cylinders used by Picnic clients rebadged as World Gas cylinders.
The newly elected chief executive is Kanoksak Pinsaeng, a major shareholder in Buriram United Football Club who has sat on the executive boards of several utilities management firms.
World Gas's LPG market share will rise to 23% from 16% once the merger is complete. The company will then rank as Thailand's second-biggest LPG trader, up from third, behind leader PTT Plc (38%).
The combined monthly sales volume of Picnic and World Gas is 97,000 tonnes and could surpass 100,000 tonnes next year after the new firm gets off the ground. Ms Chomkamol said World Gas's revenue last year totalled 20 billion baht.