Thai Credit Retail Bank Weighing Bangkok IPO Next Year

(Bloomberg) -- Thai Credit Retail Bank Pcl, a provider of microfinance loans, is exploring an initial public offering in Bangkok that could raise as much as $400 million, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

The lender, which is part of the Thai Life Insurance group, is interviewing banks on the potential first-time share sale, said the people, who asked not to be identified as the process is private. The planned IPO could take place as early as the second half of next year, the people said. 

Deliberations are still ongoing, the company may decide not to proceed with an IPO and a listing could be delayed beyond 2022, the people said. A representative for Thai Credit Retail declined to comment.

Thai Credit Retail would join fellow group member Thai Life Insurance Pcl in potentially going public in Bangkok next year. The Southeast Asian nation hosted $3.9 billion worth of IPOs so far this year, down from $4.5 billion in the same period in 2020, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Its backers include Olympus Capital Asia. The firm, founded in 1997, has invested more than $2.6 billion in over 65 portfolio companies throughout the region, according to its website. It led a consortium that acquired 25% of Thai Credit Retail in 2019 for $91 million, according to a press release.

Thai Credit Retail was set up in 1970 and granted a banking license in 2006, the release shows. The Bangkok-based lender offers financial services to small businesses, wet-market vendors, small traders, food stall owners and other self-employed individuals who have historically had limited access to bank loans.

The bank had total assets of about 81 billion baht ($2.5 billion) at the end of 2020, up from 56 billion baht a year earlier.

Net income in 2020 rose to 1.37 billion baht from 710 million baht a year earlier, according to the company’s website.

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