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).

The Week that Was in ASEAN@Smartkarma - Singapore's Election, Thai Hospitals, and Rubber Gloves

Osotspa Placement - Resilient Business but Founding Family Is Selling

Company Visits: Pruksa's Tough Times, Indorama's Strong Operations

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

Osotspa Public Company Limited / Equity Bottom-Up

We visited consumer products giant Osotspa, manufacturer of top-selling energy drinks M-100 and liquid Vitamin C C-Vitt, and petrochemicals giant Indorama. Some key pointers from the meeting:<ul>
<li>
Osotspa reported Q1'20 earnings of Bt926m (up 4.2%) on the back of Bt6,687m revenues (up 5%) driven by functional drink sales growth of 26.2%, especially for C-Vitt (liquid Vitamin C) and Calpis.</li>
<li>The company expects to cut costs by more than Bt800m and minimized sugar tax by lowering its content. They also bought out Asahi from the Calpis Osotspa venture and have earmarked almost Bt4bn in investments this year.</li>
<li>
Indorama's EBITDA jumped 51% QoQ to US$304m on the back of a 15% revenue growth to US$2.9bn. Operations were strong on an all-rounded basis with demand improving for almost every geography and product</li>
<li>Indorama also gained access to Thailand's first 'green loan' of US$200m and 200m euros offered by Japan's Mizuho Bank.</li>
</ul>

We visited consumer products giant Osotspa, manufacturer of top-selling energy drinks M-100 and liquid Vitamin C C-Vitt, and petrochemicals giant Indorama. Some key pointers from the meeting:

Osotspa reported Q1'20 earnings of Bt926m (up 4.2%) on the back of Bt6,687m revenues (up 5%) driven by functional drink sales growth of 26.2%, especially for C-Vitt (liquid Vitamin C) and Calpis.
The company expects to cut costs by more than Bt800m and minimized sugar tax by lowering its content. They also bought out Asahi from the Calpis Osotspa venture and have earmarked almost Bt4bn in investments this year.

Indorama's EBITDA jumped 51% QoQ to US$304m on the back of a 15% revenue growth to US$2.9bn. Operations were strong on an all-rounded basis with demand improving for almost every geography and product
Indorama also gained access to Thailand's first 'green loan' of US$200m and 200m euros offered by Japan's Mizuho Bank.


Osotspa, Indorama: Strong Operations Amidst Pandemic