Thai tycoon Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi is expected to seek additional borrowing on his own to finance the takeover of Singapore’s Fraser and Neave, as his flagship business Thai Beverage risks a rating downgrade should its debt level escalate further.
A source close to the matter said Charoen was looking for new loans from Singaporean banks to finance the takeover, which could amount to 13.75 billion Singapore dollars (Bt344 billion) if all shares are bought.
To date, ThaiBev, which started to build up its stake in F&N in July, has borrowed S$3.3 billion through syndication. It now holds 29 per cent in F&N, while TCC Assets – a non-listed business arm of Charoen – bought the remaining 11 per cent. As Overseas Union Enterprise has dropped out of the race and the final result of the race will be announced on February 4, Charoen will have to launch an unconditional offer for all shares of F&N.
Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services, which recently assigned a negative outlook to ThaiBev’s rating (BBB), yesterday announced that once the deal is closed, it would evaluate the credit implications for ThaiBev.
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