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Published on February 21, 2008

The bourse has already sought the information several times, but Picnic has so far failed to disclose it.

The SET yesterday said although Picnic had filed a business-reorganisation petition with the Central Bankruptcy Court, that did not prevent the company from disclosing the required information.

The SET is now demanding that Picnic supply the information before close of business next Monday.

The SET said it considered Picnic's transfer of common shares in World Gas a significant transaction and that the deal had already occurred. However, so far Picnic

had failed to cooperate with the stock exchange despite several attempts to obtain additional information.

"Considering the SET's regulatory practices and the need to provide necessary information for decision-making by the general public and Picnic shareholders, the SET requires Picnic to clarify the additional information by February 25, 2008, as per the SET's requirement dated February 1, 2008," the stock exchange said.

On January 15, Picnic told the SET it had transferred all of its World Gas shares to creditors and that the transaction had significantly affected the company's financial status and operations.

As of last September 30, Picnic held long-term investment in World Gas amounting to Bt1.61 billion, valued by the cost method.

On February 1, the SET instructed Picnic to disclose additional information.

But on February 7, Picnic replied: "The company has filed a business-reorganisation petition, and the Central Bankruptcy Court is scheduled to consider it and decide whether to allow the company to enter the business-reorganisation process on March 17, 2008. Therefore, the company must wait for the Central Bankruptcy Court's order before being able to disclose additional information."

However, the SET believes Picnic was able to disclose the information regardless of the court process.

The information required includes details of the transfer transaction involving World Gas shares, the name of the creditor or creditors receiving the shares and a summary of the financial status and operating results of World Gas from 2006 to the date on which the shares were transferred last year.

The information must also include an evaluation of the effects of the World Gas share transfer on Picnic's revenue, net profit and assets.

The SET said the World Gas share transfer and Picnic's business-reorganisation petition to the Central Bankruptcy Court were both significant transactions that affected Picnic.

Therefore, the SET requires Picnic to supply the additional information, including details of whether the World Gas share transfer was approved by its board.

If the transaction was not approved by the board of directors, then Picnic should name the person who gave approval for it.

In addition, if the transaction was approved by the board, then Picnic must specify the approval date, names of directors attending the meeting, board's resolution and board's opinion on whether the transaction was fair, reasonable and beneficial to Picnic shareholders and the company.

"The SET has consistently required these disclosures from Picnic, but Picnic has not yet disclosed any information to the SET," the stock exchange said.

The Nation