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Published on October 11, 2007

Reungvit Dusdeesurapot, executive chairman of Thai Strategic Capital, yesterday told reporters November would be good timing, as it was approaching the general election in December.

Trading volume would increase significantly and market sentiment would be euphoric ahead of the poll, he said. Thai Strategic Capital is Major Development's financial adviser for the IPO.

Of the shares, 35-40 per cent will be offered to local and international institutional investors, he said. The company will conduct roadshows abroad and domestically before

the book-building process next month.

Following the share offering, the Poolvoralaks family's shareholding will be diluted to 72 per cent, said the high-rise property developer's chief executive officer, Suriyon Poolvoralaks.

"Originally, the company planned to sell 245 million shares through the IPO, of which 45 million shares are held by major shareholders. To increase investors' confidence, the company then decided to sell only 200 million capital-increase shares," he said.

He said the company would invest in condominium projects in Bangkok's Soi 55 and Pattaya next year and was negotiating to buy several land plots to develop near electric-train stations.

The company has eight ongoing projects worth Bt13.8 billion, and all are high-end condominiums which still have a low number of competitors, he said.

He forecast that an additional 6,500 premier condo units in the central business district would be available in the market this year and 6,000 units next year.

"Competition in high-end condominiums will heat up in the next

few years. From a survey, we found there is demand for 4,000-4,200 high-end units, while supply is

about 6,000-6,500 units," said Suriyon.

Major Development's sales revenue this year will be close to last year's at Bt1.62 billion. In the first half, it had sales revenue of Bt834 million and around Bt3.6 billion worth of backlog will be realised by the end of this year.

The developer will book revenue from three projects - the Fullerton Sukhumvit, Watermark Chaophraya Tower A and the Manhattan Chidlom - next year.

It will maintain its gross margin at 35 per cent this year and the net profit margin will be close to last year at 15-16 per cent.

Suriyon said the company had a gross margin of 34 per cent in the first half of the year. Its debt-to-equity ratio will stand at 1.2 following the share allocation, from two times at present.

Siriporn Chanjindamanee

 The Nation