Executive director Narong Charuvajana yesterday said the company's recapitalisation plan was likely to succeed, because foreign investors were returning following the Bank of Thailand's recent relaxation of its 30-per-cent reserve requirement.

Moreover, foreign investors are also expected to recognise the company's business potential.

"I am confident that many investors will be interested in buying the shares as the deal is not big," he said.

Metro Systems had planned to earmark 119 million new shares at par value of Bt1 through private placement last December, but that was postponed when the stock market turned bearish, due mainly to the central bank's currency-control measures, introduced last December 19.

The share allocation will see the company's registered capital raised from Bt360 million to Bt479 million.

The company is holding a road show to inform investors about its business and performance before the share offering takes place. The capital-increase shares will be sold to Thai and foreign financial institutions at a ratio of 60:40.

Supachai Wongworaset, the associate director of Metro Systems' consultant, GT Prime Partners, said investors from Europe, Hong Kong and Singapore, as well as domestic financial institutions, had expressed interest in the company. Some of them are short-term, but others longer-term investors.

"We plan to finalise the deal in March or April, depending on how the stock market is," he said. "The market is currently quite stable and investors are more confident after the central bank relaxed its [currency control] measures. Earlier, foreign investors were panicking and the market was volatile for a month."

Anoma Srisukkasem

The Nation