Thai Petrochemical Industry Plc (TPI) will hold an auction to sell its 30 percent stake in cement maker TPI Polene on Sept 22, in a second attempt to raise money to repay debt, a TPI debt administrator said.
TPI’s debt plan administrator will invite 29 investors who indicated interest in participating in the previous e-auction to attend the auction for TPI Polene’s 249 million shares, TPI said in a statement to the Stock Exchange of Thailand. Creditors and other interested parties may also participate in the bidding, the statement said.
The sale of the shares is subject to creditor approval.
Siri Jirapongphan, a member of the TPI restructuring plan administration team, said the letter of credit requirement for the latest auction has been reduced to THB100m in order to minimise barriers for possible bidders.
The plan administrator earlier won agreement from creditors that TPI’s massive $2.7bn debt would be reduced by $250 million, even if the auction of 249m shares failed to yield that much. An electronic auction of the 249m shares in TPI Polene Plc (TPIP) was cancelled in early August after no bidders showed interest.
TPI had planned to raise $250 million from the auction and use the proceeds to repay debt as part of a plan to restructure TPI’s $2.7 billion of debt.
If the proceeds from the share sale were below $250 million in the second auction, TPI creditors would have the right to buy the shares first, the administrator said.
