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).

Biggest Deal in 2018: MINT Becomes a Thai Starwood!!

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

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).

Event-Driven

MINT, the largest hotel and restaurant chain in Thailand, announced ambitious plans to buy a 29.5% stake in Madrid-based hotel chain NH, as well as plans to raise some Bt100bn partly through debt financing. The amount is far more than necessary, so it sparked speculation, which they promptly refused to deny, that they could take over the whole of NH!The interest expenses, at least initially, could be higher than NH's earnings. In this review, we size up the deal to see whether they end up creating or destroying value for shareholders. One winner of the deal would be the bankers, assuming MINT doesn't go belly-up and default...which is unlikely given their large existing operations.Based on our analysis, we see a 15% upside for MINT (new price target of Bt46/sh) and 16% for NH Hotels. The two Thai banks should also benefit from these large interest payments as well as advisory fees, but without knowing the combination between balance sheet financing and advisory portions, we can not say how much it is worth to the two banks yet.

MINT, the largest hotel and restaurant chain in Thailand, announced ambitious plans to buy a 29.5% stake in Madrid-based hotel chain NH, as well as plans to raise some Bt100bn partly through debt financing. The amount is far more than necessary, so it sparked speculation, which they promptly refused to deny, that they could take over the whole of NH!The interest expenses, at least initially, could be higher than NH's earnings. In this review, we size up the deal to see whether they end up creating or destroying value for shareholders. One winner of the deal would be the bankers, assuming MINT doesn't go belly-up and default...which is unlikely given their large existing operations.Based on our analysis, we see a 15% upside for MINT (new price target of Bt46/sh) and 16% for NH Hotels. The two Thai banks should also benefit from these large interest payments as well as advisory fees, but without knowing the combination between balance sheet financing and advisory portions, we can not say how much it is worth to the two banks yet.

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

Minor International

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