Thai billionaire Sarath Ratanavadi has reportedly announced plans to merge his power company Gulf Energy Development with its telecoms unit Intouch Holdings, which owns telco Advanced Info Service (AIS), with the resulting combined entity potentially valued at US$20.5 billion.
According to a Bloomberg report on Wednesday, current Gulf Energy shareholders will receive 1.02974 shares of the merged business, while Intouch holders will get 1.69335 shares for every stock held.
According to Bloomberg, the merger and restructure is part of Sarath’s plan to restructure his businesses that deal in renewable energy, telecoms and data centres.
“The combined expertise will benefit both companies and all stakeholders, increasing the potential of the new company to be a leader in the energy and telecommunications business,” Sarath said in a joint statement from Intouch and Gulf Energy, which already owns around 47.4% of Intouch after taking control of the company in 2021.
Meanwhile, under the proposed restructure plan, Sarath, Gulf Energy, Intouch and Singtel Strategic Investments will make a tender offer for 36.25% of AIS at THB216.30 a share each, the report said. Singtel currently owns 24.99% of Intouch, while Intouch owns 40.44% of AIS.
Bloomberg adds that Singtel will end up with a 9% stake in the newly combined Gulf-Intouch company, and will book a gain of SGD400 million (US$298 million) from the deal. Singtel also said in an exchange filing that the deal will simplify its stake in AIS by removing Intouch as the intermediary holding company.
The merger plan also calls for Gulf Energy, Intouch and Sarath to buy 58.9% of Intouch-owned satellite operator Thaicom at THB11 apiece, the report said.
Subject to the usual regulatory approvals, the restructure is scheduled to be completed by the second quarter of 2025.
