After postponing their issuance plans due to the September 19 military coup, Krung Thai Bank (KTB) and Thai Oil have revived their plans to sell new bonds.

KTB is today offering a US$200-million (Bt7.5 billion) hybrid tier-1 bond it withdrew last month prior to issuance.

The perpetual bond is now on offer at a spread of 280-285 basis points over 10-year US Treasury bonds, a person familiar with the deal said yesterday.

KTB priced the bond on September 19 at 265 basis points over US-government debt, but withdrew it on September 21, prior to issuance, when the spread widened along with other Thai US-dollar-denominated bonds.

Merrill Lynch is the lead manger for the offering, which is due to be priced today.

The offering has already received indications of interest in excess of $150 million, said the source.

Thai Oil is also expected to reintroduce its Bt5.5-billion debentures this month, having postponed the issuance at the end of September following the coup.

"The company is currently starting to survey the market gain and plans to hold a road show next week," a source from an asset-management firm was quoted by Reuters as saying.

The book-building process as well as issuance date will be set after the road show.

The source said investors had already regained confidence in the political situation and the market was back to normal.

Thai Oil's debentures - to be arranged by Standard Chartered Bank (Thai) - will be offered to institutional investors. The issuance is part of the company's planned $150-million debentures approved by the board.

Meanwhile, the Finance Ministry has priced its Bt8.2 billion worth of securitised bonds at 6.05 per cent for the 14-year tenor and 6.5 per cent for a 19-year tenor.

Both tranches are priced close to the upper end of their indicative coupon ranges. The range for the 14-year bonds was set at 5.80-6.15 per cent, while that for the 19-year bonds was 6.15-6.65 per cent.

"The demand from institutional investors was very strong at the book-building on Tuesday, but we can't sell all [of the issue] to them. We have to keep some for retail investors," said Kanit Sangsubhan, director of the ministry's Policy Research Institute and an adviser to the securitisation programme.

 Kanit said Bt170 million of the Bt2.2 billion to be offered for the 14-year bonds had been reserved for retail buyers. For the 19-year tranche, Bt150 million of the planned Bt6-billion offer will be sold to retail investors.

The Nation,

Dow Jones Newswires