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SARATH Ratanavadi has strengthened his position as Thailand’s richest person, with his wealth buoyed by earnings potential over the near-completion of the merger of his energy and telecom units.
His net worth jumped to more than US$16 billion after increasing by about US$7 billion over the past three months, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
The gain comes after a 52 per cent rally in shares of Gulf Energy Development, the nation’s largest power producer, and vaults him into the top five in Asia’s energy and power sector, a group that includes India’s Mukesh Ambani and Gautam Adani.
His plan to combine Gulf Energy and Intouch Holdings, which controls Thailand’s second-largest telecoms operator, has won over investors – evidenced by overwhelming shareholder votes in favour of the merger and subsequent equity rallies.
At least for now, investors are betting big on the 59-year-old Bangkok native who has added power plants in Europe and the US to his domestic empire and also diversified into deep-sea ports, cryptocurrency trading and data centres.
“Gulf Energy is viewed by some investors as a tiger with new wings from the combination of strong cash flows and new growth potentials,” said Jitra Amornthum, an analyst at Finansia Syrus Securities. “Still, the optimism may be getting too far ahead with the share price’s recent hot rally.”
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Sarath in late July overtook beverage-and-property tycoon Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi, 80, who has a net worth of US$13.4 billion, as the richest Thai on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. The proposed merger was announced on Jul 16.
The Bangkok-based utility – which Sarath founded and holds almost 75 per cent – was the second-best performer in the past three months among more than 150 power companies worldwide with a market value of more than US$1 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Gulf Energy and Intouch, which are scheduled to complete its combination in early 2025, currently have a combined market value of 1.1 trillion baht (S$43.1 billion).
At that level, the joined company would leapfrog state-controlled energy giant PTT and Airports of Thailand to become the country’s second-largest company, behind only Delta Electronics (Thailand).
Shares of Gulf Energy and Intouch reached another record on Thursday after Sarath moved forward with his stock buying offers from dissenting shareholders to accelerate the proposed merger.
He had been leaning against buying out minority investors who may oppose the combination of the two firms. Shareholders of both companies last week voted overwhelmingly to approve the deal, clearing a major hurdle for the merger to proceed.
“The combination will significantly change investors’ perception on Gulf Energy from traditional and power business to technology company with vast potential,” Sarath said after the shareholders’ meeting on Oct 3. “It will also expand our balance sheet and market value which will expand our financial leverage for future projects.”
Gulf Energy shares trade now trade at more than 35 times trailing 12-month earnings, a premium to most global peers. The stock price is about 7 per cent higher than the average estimate in the Bloomberg survey of analysts. BLOOMBERG
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