By Prudence Ho and P.R. Venkat
HONG KONG--Thai billionaire Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi appears to
be back in the fray for a high-profile acquisition just months
after paying billions for a Singapore property group. Mr. Charoen
is tapping banks for funding to launch a counterbid for Thai
discount store operator Siam Makro PCL (MAKRO.TH), people with
direct knowledge of the matter said Wednesday.
But he isn't likely to submit a bid unless he can get enough
funding to beat one, for $6.6 billion, made Tuesday by Thailand's
wealthiest man, Dhanin Chearavanont, the people said. Mr. Charoen,
Thailand's third-richest man, is trying to raise financing but sees
Mr. Dhanin bid as highly valued, they said.
Mr. Dhanin is raising the bulk of the funds to finance the Siam
Makro deal from banks.
Mr. Dhanin's bid for the membership-based discount chain he
himself owned until the Asian economic crisis of the late 1990s
would be Asia's biggest merger so far this year.
Mr. Dhanin's offer, through his CP ALL convenience store, values
Siam Makro at 53 times its 2012 earnings, or 45 times analysts'
forecast 2013 earnings. In contrast, Thailand's benchmark SET Index
is trading at 17.6 times earnings.
A spokesman at TCC Assets, the property unit owned by Mr.
Charoen that is tapping the banks, declined to comment.
Both Mr. Dhanin and Mr. Charoen have track records of funding
big deals with debt. Early this year, Mr. Choroen won a bidding war
for Singapore's Fraser & Neave Ltd. (F99.SG), with debt
accounting for most of the $11.2 billion price tag of the real
estate and soft drinks firm. He received financing to back the
deal, Asia's largest M&A transaction last year, from a group of
banks including United Overseas Bank and DBS Bank.
Mr. Dhanin paid $9.4 billion for a stake in Ping An Insurance
(Group) Co. (2318.HK) in a deal that closed earlier this year and
was largely funded by UBS AG.
--Isabella Steger and James Hookway contributed to this
article.
Write to Prudence Ho at prudence.ho@wsj.com and P.R. Venkat at
venkat.pr@wsj.com
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