CHINESE ACQUISITION
ThaiBev's buy 'won't affect ratings'
No concern over purchase of spirits firm: S&P
Thai Beverage's proposed acquisition of the entire equity interest in China's Anhui Gujing Group for 980 million yuan (Bt4.43 billion) will not cause any change to its ratings, says Standard and Poor's Ratings Services. It was reported the acquisition would be made through Thai Beverage's international subsidiary arm, International Beverage Holdings. Anhui Gujing, a spirits manufacturer, is also involved in hotels, real estate and finance. Listed in Singapore, Thai Beverage told the Singapore Exchange that if the acquisition went through, it planned to sell off all but the distillery and liquor-related businesses, under its medium-term plan to increase its international sales to about 5 per cent of its total revenue. "Although Thai Bev could finance the proposed acquisition with debt, this is not expected to have a material impact on its financial profile," Standard and Poor's said in a statement released yesterday. It said the transaction was expected to benefit Thai Beverage's business profile and would be in line with the company's medium- to long-term strategy of expanding its business outside of its domestic market in a measured manner. The company has a limited presence internationally but hopes initially to enter Southeast Asian markets, as well as China and Taiwan. Standard and Poor's assigns a rating of BBB/Stable to the Thai alcohol company. Meanwhile, Dow Jones Newswires reported Thai Beverage was in talks with a state asset regulator in China's Anhui province to buy state-owned Anhui Gujing, which put itself up for sale in February. Gujing Distillery, 62.55 per cent-owned by the Anhui Gujing Group as of the end of last year, said both the state-asset regulator and Anhui's provincial equity exchange were dealing with International Beverage Holding, Thai Beverage's Hong Kong unit. The Anhui Gujing Group's website says its assets totalled 3.84 billion yuan as of the end of 2005. Trading in Gujing Distillery shares has been suspended on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange since January 15, pending the planned sale of its parent.
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