Oil and gas conglomerate PTT Plc says its plan to spin off its fuel retail business and list the company on the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) has been delayed to next year, mainly because of complicated bureaucratic processes.
Some 4,500 shareholders met on Friday and 99.97% of them agreed on the plan to transfer assets to the subsidiary, PTT Oil and Retail Co (PTTOR).
Auttaphol Rerkpiboon, senior executive vice-president of the oil business unit, said that while shareholders approved the transfer of oil retail assets worth 122 billion baht to wholly owned subsidiary PTTOR, the transfer needs to be done through several relevant state agencies, which could take up to a year.
At this stage, the company has received the green light from the central government and the National Energy Policy Council. More complicated legislative paperwork, however, is required for later in the year, Mr Auttaphol said.
The financial advisers for PTTOR's initial public offering will be selected soon after the asset transfer is completed, Mr Auttaphol said.
PTTOR is expected to be the sixth core business of PTT to list on the SET after PTT Exploration and Production, PTT Global Chemical, Thai Oil, IRPC and GPSC.
The main assets to be transferred to PTTOR include subsidiary firms in oil retail and non-oil units in Thailand and overseas, oil pipelines and jet fuel services, cooking gas, lube oil and some cooking gas depots.
PTTOR has registered capital of 8.78 billion baht, with a par value per unit of 100 baht. It will consider increasing registered capital after assets are transferred.
Tevin Vongvanich, PTT's president and chief executive, said PTT will remain the major shareholder of PTTOR, holding 45-49% of shares, while 51-55% will be floated on the SET.
Overseas investors may be limited to holding 25% of total floated shares, he said.
PTTOR's business plan calls for 1,800 petrol stations by 2021, up from 1,500.
The company also plans to expand its Cafe Amazon branches to 2,700 locations.
For its oil retail business overseas, PTTOR wants to manage 500 petrol stations by 2020, including ones in Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos and the Philippines. That represents a massive expansion from the current 170 stations.
For lube products, PTTOR expects China and India to provide global sourcing for PTT-branded products and original equipment manufacturer (OEM) goods to tap into an international groundswell of demand.
PTTOR reported total sales last year of 484.3 billion baht, down from 510.74 billion in 2015, while net profit last year was 16.13 billion baht, an increase from 9.9 billion.
