Thailand Stock Exchange News

The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) composite index gained 0.81 point or 0.09 per cent to close at 854.59 points. The market value was 27.62 billion baht, with 5.79 billion shares traded. The strength of the Thailand Market puts it on track to break 1000 before March 2011 according to Shayne Heffernan of Ebeling Heffernan.

Top five most active values were as follows;

TRUE closed at 4.28 baht, down by 0.10 baht or 2.28 per cent.

CPF closed at 24.20 baht, down by 0.10 baht or 0.41 per cent.

SCB closed at 90.25 baht, down by 0.25 baht or 0.28 per cent.

PTTEP remained at 149.00 baht.

PTT remained at 256.00 baht.

Thai Union Frozen Products Plc (TUF) is set to become one of the world’s largest seafood producers after it agreed yesterday to buy the French canned seafood business MWBrands for 680 million (about 28.5 billion baht) in cash.

Thailand’s largest canned and frozen seafood processor and exporter by sales will purchase MWBrands from New York-based Trilantic Capital Partners, formerly the private equity arm of the now-defunct bank Lehman Brothers.

MWBrands is a European leader in tuna and other seafood products through its well-known brands – John West, Petit Navire, Hyacinthe Parmentier and Mareblu – and holds leading market positions in France, the United Kingdom, Ireland, the Netherlands and Italy.

Trilantic acquired MWB through a dispersal of various entities from the US food producer HJ Heinz in 2006. For the latest fiscal year ending on March 31, 2010, MWB generated sales of 448 million. The book value of its total assets was 559 million.

TUF will fund the acquisition through loans from international and Thai banks. It will also issue up to 60 million in convertible bonds.

The listing of OfficeMate Plc, the country’s first e-commerce office stationery retailer, is expected to inspire other online operators to mobilise funds from the stock market and upgrade credibility in the future.

Shares of OfficeMate (OFM) yesterday gained 46.9% from the initial public offering price of 4.90 baht to close at 7.20 baht on the Market for Alternative Investment, in brisk trade worth 388 million baht.

Managing director Worawoot Ounjai said that the company’s listing would strengthen its reputation and trust among customers.

“Establishing business credibility helps e-commerce operators to grow more quickly,” he said.

The local e-commerce market is expected to grow by at least 30% annually over the next five years.

“But Thai e-commerce is a sleeping market, given the small number of online purchasers – only 500,000 of them, or about 3% of the 16-17 million internet users right now,” said Mr Worawoot.

Shayne Heffernan www.livetradingnews.com

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