A group of foreign investors led by Chanon Prasertvichakorn will take over Pacific Assets by offering to acquire up to 49 per cent of the company in a deal worth Bt1.31 billion.

Natural Park president and CEO Sermsin Samalapa told the Stock Exchange of Thailand yesterday that the investor group proposed first to buy 15 million shares, or 4.49 per cent, of Pacific Assets at a price of Bt8 apiece.

He said the deal had been approved by Natural Park's board of directors and was expected to take place within seven days.

Natural Park holds 211.74 million shares, or 63.4 per cent, of Pacific Assets.

Shares of Pacific Assets hit a peak of Bt7.45 apiece soon after the curtain was raised on trading yesterday but weakened to close at Bt7.10, or a rise of 1.43 per cent.

Natural Park's shares were up by 2.5 per cent to 41 satang.

The investors have also offered to launch a voluntary tender offer to buy another 148.66 million shares in Pacific Assets at the same price as that paid to Natural Park and other shareholders for the initial lot.

"In the case of other shareholders selling all their shares to the investor group, the company will be able to sell an additional 26.4 million shares, or 7.9 per cent of the paid-up shares of Pacific Assets. In the case of other shareholders deciding not to sell to the investor group, the company will be able to sell a maximum of 148.66 million shares, or not exceeding 44.51 per cent of the paid up shares of Pacific Assets," he said.

In case of no other shareholder of Pacific Assets selling shares to the investor group, Natural Park's shareholding in Pacific Assets will fall to 14.4 per cent.

Proceeds from the share sale will be used to repay loans and develop other real-estate capital.

Natural Park's board of directors also approved the sale of a sizeable stake in subsidiary Aimtop Investments and a land plot of about 6,283 square metres in Croatia to an interested investor.

The board of directors also decided to allow either the divestment by Natural Park of its shareholding in Kyoto Resorts YK or the sale by the resort of a land plot in Japan to an interested investor.

The board also reversed a recent decision to sell a land plot and assets of the 219-room Novotel Beach Resort Panwa in Phuket for Bt550 million to Lehman Brothers (Thailand).

Instead, Natural Hotel Panwa - the hotel's operator - will issue debentures worth no more than Bt1 billion to Lehman Brothers (Thailand), said Sermsin.

The debentures will be guaranteed by Natural Park, and proceeds from the debt-instrument offering will be used to finance the hotel's construction and provide a reserve for working capital.

Natural Park and Lehman Brothers (Thailand) will seek a buyer for the hotel when it is completed.

Earlier, plans by the Dusit Thani Group to take a controlling stake in Pacific Assets failed.

Siriporn Chanjindamanee

The Nation