Asean-focused. Ex-Head of Thai Research

Athaporn Arayasantiparb, CFA

Athaporn served as Head of Research for UOB and ANZ in Thailand and was an award-winning telecoms analyst at UBS in 2010 (AsiaMoney Thailand category) and Regional Strategist for DMG in Singapore. Prior to that, he also served as Kasikornbank credit analyst and scholar. He has a total work experience of 22 years, of which 19 were in research and 9 in research management roles. He started his career as an engineer for PTT and currently manages family investments. He holds an MBA from Stern (NYU) and CFA Charter since 2006.

Apart from IPO Radar, which focuses on future listings, MCorp Review also performs financial advisory services for TKC Services and provides 11 other on-going thematic series ranked by frequency in descending order, namely:

1) Snippets (news-driven);
2) Sathorn Series (financial services);
3) Silicon Stories (technology); 
4) Thai-Coons (billionaire origin series);
5) Reality Check (data-driven, investigative);
6) Thai Media Spotlight;
7) Political Pit Stop; 
8) Telecom Review; 
9) Thai Macro Watch (read-through from foreign events);  
10) Small Cap Diary; and
11) Property Grid

There are also 3 limited-time series driven by specific events or locations, namely:
1) Thai Corona Crisis;
2) South Series; and
3) Mechanics and Details (deal forensics).

Revisiting Mitr Phol Group: Erawan and Banpu

Rabble Rousers (Episode 2): The Hardest Dots To Connect

IPO Radar: SHREIT, Charoen's Next Hotel REIT

Asean (Thailand) Focused Independent Research

M Corp Review

M Corp is led by Athaporn Arayasantiparb who served as Head of Research for UOB and ANZ in Thailand and was an award-winning telecoms analyst at UBS in 2010 (AsiaMoney Thailand category) and Regional Strategist for DMG in Singapore. Prior to that, he also served as Kasikornbank credit analyst and scholar. He has a total work experience of 17 years, of which 14 were in research and 4 in research management roles. He started his career as an engineer for PTT and currently manages family investments. He holds an MBA from Stern (NYU) and CFA Charter since 2006. Apart from IPO Radar, which focuses on future listings, MCorp Review also provides six on-going thematic series ranked by frequency in descending order, namely: 1) Silicon Stories (technology) 2) Sathorn Series (financial services) 3) Thai-Coons (billionaire origin stories) 4) Reality Check (data-driven, investigative) 5) Thai Media Spotlight; and 6) Thai Macro Watch (global market drivers).

Equity Bottom-Up

The Mitr Phol Group is Thailand's biggest sugar tycoon and 25th richest family according to  Forbes. Today, we met two of their most prominent listed companies Banpu and Erawan. Here's a quick update:<ul>
<li>
Banpu isn't doing well operationally with earnings dropping 40% YoY at the power subsidiary and 98% at the parent level. Generally apologetic, the tone of the presentation revolved around how things might not get any worse. For what it's worth, they have diversified out of just power and coal into shale gas (Marcellus), energy tech (Sunseap), and batteries (DuraPower).</li>
<li>
Erawan proved more interesting and hopeful, though short term depressing as well with the company reporting a loss in Q2'19 largely due to seasonality and staff-related provisions (Bt17m). Chinese tourists continue to be important for them given their longer stays and large proportion.</li>
<li>
Hop Inn's low-cost offering remains a bright spot for the company, as everyone's budget tightens. Doing well both here and in Manila, but occupancy rates remain low as these things need time to ramp up.</li>
<li>Overall, we're not brave enough to get in on Banpu at this stage, but if you have a longer term view, Erawan does seem poised for recovery given the strength of tourism here in the long run vs short term negatives (China slowdown, Baht strength).</li>
</ul>

The Mitr Phol Group is Thailand's biggest sugar tycoon and 25th richest family according to  Forbes. Today, we met two of their most prominent listed companies Banpu and Erawan. Here's a quick update:

Banpu isn't doing well operationally with earnings dropping 40% YoY at the power subsidiary and 98% at the parent level. Generally apologetic, the tone of the presentation revolved around how things might not get any worse. For what it's worth, they have diversified out of just power and coal into shale gas (Marcellus), energy tech (Sunseap), and batteries (DuraPower).

Erawan proved more interesting and hopeful, though short term depressing as well with the company reporting a loss in Q2'19 largely due to seasonality and staff-related provisions (Bt17m). Chinese tourists continue to be important for them given their longer stays and large proportion.

Hop Inn's low-cost offering remains a bright spot for the company, as everyone's budget tightens. Doing well both here and in Manila, but occupancy rates remain low as these things need time to ramp up.
Overall, we're not brave enough to get in on Banpu at this stage, but if you have a longer term view, Erawan does seem poised for recovery given the strength of tourism here in the long run vs short term negatives (China slowdown, Baht strength).


Banpu & Erawan: Tough Quarter for Mitr Phol Group

Banpu Public

Banpu & Erawan: Tough Quarter for Mitr Phol Group