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).

Reality Check XIII: Is MINT's Acquisition of NH Hotels Wise?

IPO Radar: SHREIT, Charoen's Next Hotel REIT

KFC Thailand: Thai Bev Puts CENTEL Down for the Count

Thai Hotels: Sky's the Limit! (...for Most)

Silicon Stories B: Airbnb...Zero to Hero in the Digital Age

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).

Thematic (Sector/Industry)

Thailand Hotels, restaurants and leisure / Thematic (Sector/Industry)

<p>The outlook remains similar to what we saw in our previous visit. Erawan continues to trounce its two larger competitors, Minor and CENTEL, on almost every metric. In 2017, its earnings grew 38% compared to just 18% for MINT and only 8% for CENTEL. Although 2018 promises to be a better year than 2017 (still saw impact of mourning), Erawan continues to provide more bullish guidance than peers, and listening to management's tone, they are pretty sure of accomplishing it. Other key observations:</p><ul><li>Russians and Chinese tourists seem to be the key drivers of traffic with Chinese tourism picking up after the initial slowdown in early parts of the year, thanks to the clamp-down on zero-dollar tourism.</li><li>Erawan will focus more on lower-end and domestic tourists going forward. Internally, they deduce that the low end offers better margin than luxury segment.</li><li>MINT continues to face problems in its Singapore restaurant hub. The closure of Thai Express stores looks more like damage control than a turnaround.</li></ul><p>Overall, our sense is that this is never a value sector anyway. If you're in it for growth, the choice is simple. =&gt; Go with Erawan.</p>

The outlook remains similar to what we saw in our previous visit. Erawan continues to trounce its two larger competitors, Minor and CENTEL, on almost every metric. In 2017, its earnings grew 38% compared to just 18% for MINT and only 8% for CENTEL. Although 2018 promises to be a better year than 2017 (still saw impact of mourning), Erawan continues to provide more bullish guidance than peers, and listening to management's tone, they are pretty sure of accomplishing it. Other key observations:Russians and Chinese tourists seem to be the key drivers of traffic with Chinese tourism picking up after the initial slowdown in early parts of the year, thanks to the clamp-down on zero-dollar tourism.Erawan will focus more on lower-end and domestic tourists going forward. Internally, they deduce that the low end offers better margin than luxury segment.MINT continues to face problems in its Singapore restaurant hub. The closure of Thai Express stores looks more like damage control than a turnaround.Overall, our sense is that this is never a value sector anyway. If you're in it for growth, the choice is simple. =&gt; Go with Erawan.

Erawan: Ahead of the Pack