Latest news with #FrasersProperty
The Star
4 days ago
- Business
- The Star
Second-richest Thai billionaire hands stakes in major companies to children
BANGKOK: Thailand's second-richest person Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi (pic) transferred ownership of two major listed companies to his five children as the octogenarian businessman pulls back from day-to-day management of his beer-to-property conglomerate. Charoen sold all of his shares in Sutthasup 9 Company to his offspring, according to late Monday (May 26) filings of Asset World Corp. and Berli Jucker. Sutthasup 9 has indirect control of the companies. The statements did not say how much Charoen owned in the companies. Major shareholders' restructuring will have no impact on current management structures, business operations and strategic direction of the companies, the filings said. Berli Jucker's shares fell as much as 3.3 per cent, while shares of Asset World dropped as much as three per cent in Tuesday trading. The key benchmark stock index slid 1.6 per cent. Charoen, 81, has a net worth of about US$11.6 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Charoen's business empire includes Thai Beverage Pcl, the nation's largest whiskey and spirits maker, Fraser and Neave Ltd., a Singapore-based food and beverage maker, and Frasers Property Ltd. Chaoren has been gradually pulling out of active leadership positions in his group companies. In February, he retired as the chairman of Frasers Property and assumed the title of chairman emeritus at the Singapore-listed developer. A month earlier, he quit as the chairman of Fraser and Neave. But he retains control of TCC Group, the conglomerate with significant holdings across beverage, real estate, consumer goods and retail companies. Earlier this month, Frasers Property said in a filing it was seeking to take Frasers Hospitality Trust private. Charoen appears to be avoiding a succession drama that has plagued other wealthy families in Asia. He began the restructuring of his holdings as part of plans for passing down the investments to his children, Wallapa Traisorat, Asset World's chief executive officer and Charoen's daughter, said in an interview last year. In March 2024, share transactions among two major shareholders of Asset World sparked a two-day jump in overseas investor net selling of Thai equities. Charoen's recent public appearance, in which he was photographed in a wheelchair, came at the opening of the US$3.6 billion 'One Bangkok' property project in October, his family's biggest real estate venture. Charoen's children also include Thapana Sirivadhanabhakdi, Thai Beverage's chief executive officer, Thapanee Techajareonvikul, CEO of Berli Jucker, and Panote Sirivadhanabhakdi CEO of Frasers Property. Charoen's spouse, Wanna, passed away in 2023. "I would like my business to have a sustainable growth by avoiding any excessive spending and borrowing beyond its capacity,' Charoen said during a recent interview with the Thai Chamber of Commerce. - Bloomberg
Business Times
5 days ago
- Business
- Business Times
Thai billionaire hands stakes in major companies to his children
[BANGKOK] Thailand's second-richest person Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi transferred ownership of two major listed companies to his five children as the octogenarian businessman pulls back from day-to-day management of his beer-to-property conglomerate. Charoen sold all of his shares in Sutthasup 9 Company to his offspring, according to late Monday (May 26) filings of Asset World and Berli Jucker. Sutthasup 9 has indirect control of the companies. The statements did not say how much Charoen owned in the companies. Major shareholders' restructuring will have no impact on current management structures, business operations and strategic direction of the companies, the filings said. Berli Jucker's shares fell as much as 3.3 per cent, while shares of Asset World dropped as much as 3 per cent in Tuesday trading. The key benchmark stock index slid 1.6 per cent. Charoen, 81, has a net worth of about US$11.6 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Charoen's business empire includes Thai Beverage, the nation's largest whisky and spirits maker, Fraser and Neave, a Singapore-based food and beverage maker, and Frasers Property. Chaoren has been gradually pulling out of active leadership positions in his group companies. A NEWSLETTER FOR YOU Tuesday, 12 pm Property Insights Get an exclusive analysis of real estate and property news in Singapore and beyond. Sign Up Sign Up In February, he retired as the chairman of Frasers Property and assumed the title of chairman emeritus at the Singapore-listed developer. A month earlier, he quit as the chairman of Fraser and Neave. But he retains control of TCC Group, the conglomerate with significant holdings across beverage, real estate, consumer goods and retail companies. Earlier this month, Frasers Property said in a filing it was seeking to take Frasers Hospitality Trust private. Charoen appears to be avoiding a succession drama that has plagued other wealthy families in Asia. He began the restructuring of his holdings as part of plans for passing down the investments to his children, Wallapa Traisorat, Asset World's chief executive officer and Charoen's daughter, said in an interview last year. In March 2024, share transactions among two major shareholders of Asset World sparked a two-day jump in overseas investor net selling of Thai equities. Charoen's recent public appearance, in which he was photographed in a wheelchair, came at the opening of the US$3.6 billion 'One Bangkok' property project in October, his family's biggest real estate venture. Charoen's children also include Thapana Sirivadhanabhakdi, Thai Beverage's chief executive officer, Thapanee Techajareonvikul, CEO of Berli Jucker, and Panote Sirivadhanabhakdi CEO of Frasers Property. Charoen's spouse, Wanna, passed away in 2023. 'I would like my business to have a sustainable growth by avoiding any excessive spending and borrowing beyond its capacity,' Charoen said during a recent interview with the Thai Chamber of Commerce. BLOOMBERG
Mint
5 days ago
- Business
- Mint
Thai Billionaire Hands Stakes in Major Companies to Children
(Bloomberg) -- Thailand's second-richest person Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi transferred ownership of two major listed companies to his five children as the octogenarian businessman pulls back from day-to-day management of his beer-to-property conglomerate. Charoen sold all of his shares in Sutthasup 9 Company to his offspring, according to late Monday filings of Asset World Corp. and Berli Jucker. Sutthasup 9 has indirect control of the companies. The statements did not say how much Charoen owned in the companies. Major shareholders' restructuring will have no impact on current management structures, business operations and strategic direction of the companies, the filings said. Berli Jucker's shares fell as much as 3.3%, while shares of Asset World dropped as much as 3% in Tuesday trading. The key benchmark stock index slid 1.6%. Charoen, 81, has a net worth of about $11.6 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Charoen's business empire includes Thai Beverage Pcl, the nation's largest whiskey and spirits maker, Fraser and Neave Ltd., a Singapore-based food and beverage maker, and Frasers Property Ltd. Chaoren has been gradually pulling out of active leadership positions in his group companies. In February, he retired as the chairman of Frasers Property and assumed the title of chairman emeritus at the Singapore-listed developer. A month earlier, he quit as the chairman of Fraser and Neave. But he retains control of TCC Group, the conglomerate with significant holdings across beverage, real estate, consumer goods and retail companies. Earlier this month, Frasers Property said in a filing it was seeking to take Frasers Hospitality Trust private. Charoen appears to be avoiding a succession drama that has plagued other wealthy families in Asia. He began the restructuring of his holdings as part of plans for passing down the investments to his children, Wallapa Traisorat, Asset World's chief executive officer and Charoen's daughter, said in an interview last year. In March 2024, share transactions among two major shareholders of Asset World sparked a two-day jump in overseas investor net selling of Thai equities. Charoen's recent public appearance, in which he was photographed in a wheelchair, came at the opening of the $3.6 billion 'One Bangkok' property project in October, his family's biggest real estate venture. Charoen's children also include Thapana Sirivadhanabhakdi, Thai Beverage's chief executive officer, Thapanee Techajareonvikul, CEO of Berli Jucker, and Panote Sirivadhanabhakdi CEO of Frasers Property. Charoen's spouse, Wanna, passed away in 2023. 'I would like my business to have a sustainable growth by avoiding any excessive spending and borrowing beyond its capacity,' Charoen said during a recent interview with the Thai Chamber of Commerce. (Adds shares in the fourth paragraph and more details beginning in the sixth paragraph.) More stories like this are available on
Business Times
6 days ago
- Business
- Business Times
Frasers Property's privatising FHT does nothing for its minorities
[SINGAPORE] Minority investors of Frasers Hospitality Trust (FHT) are getting a second chance to exit their holdings by way of a privatisation offer. FHT's sponsor Frasers Property recently proposed privatising the stapled group at S$0.71 per stapled security via a trust scheme of arrangement. In September 2022, Frasers Property's earlier attempt to privatise FHT at S$0.70 per stapled security narrowly failed to get requisite support from minority stapled securityholders. Frasers Property's latest offer price is at a 10.7 per cent premium to FHT's end-March net asset value (NAV) per stapled security of S$0.6416. The offer price represents a 18.3 per cent, 25.4 per cent and 36.3 per cent premium to the last-transacted, three-month and 12-month volume-weighted average price prior to Apr 23, respectively, when the boards of FHT's managers announced the managers were conducting a review of FHT's strategy. Various reasons were cited as rationale for the proposed privatisation including macroeconomic headwinds and FHT's smaller scale relative to its peers. Also, despite revenue per available room at FHT's assets recovering to pre-Covid levels, inflationary cost pressures and other macroeconomic challenges have constrained meaningful distribution per stapled security (DPS) growth. A NEWSLETTER FOR YOU Tuesday, 12 pm Property Insights Get an exclusive analysis of real estate and property news in Singapore and beyond. Sign Up Sign Up Frasers Property's perspective However, while FHT's minority investors are being given what looks to be a financially attractive offer, spare a thought for Frasers Property's minority shareholders. Spending resources in trying to privatise FHT, which made its trading debut in 2014, may not help improve Frasers Property's financial or share price performance. Frasers Property is facing macroeconomic headwinds while it has net debt of S$15.1 billion and net debt/total equity of 88.5 per cent as at end-March. Should it be raising its investment in FHT's portfolio of hospitality assets, whose prospects are challenging, when the property group ought to work harder to reduce leverage given a tough economic climate? FHT owns hotels and serviced residences in Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, Japan, UK and Germany. For the six months ended Mar 31, FHT's net property income declined 2.5 per cent from the year before because of elevated property taxes, utility costs driven by inflation and other property-related expenses. Due to lower net property income and higher finance costs, the trust's DPS fell 6 per cent year on year. Can Frasers Property, which is active across various business lines, find better ways to deploy its capital than investing more in FHT? The stapled group owns various overseas assets in countries whose currencies may depreciate further against the Singapore dollar. Moreover, Frasers Property loses valuable recurring management fees from managing FHT should it be privatised. Importantly, Frasers Property is trying to privatise FHT at a premium to book value, when the group itself trades way below book value. As at Friday (May 23), Frasers Property traded at a discount of 66 per cent to its end-March NAV per share of S$2.38. In short, equity market investors implicitly apply a hefty discount to Frasers Property's hospitality assets – potentially all of FHT's assets plus other hospitality ones that the group owns outside of FHT. Herein lies the critical need for Frasers Property's board of directors to clearly articulate what it plans to do with the FHT portfolio and its other hospitality assets. Perhaps, Frasers Property can increase the pace of selling hospitality assets. The group recently completed the divestment of Capri by Fraser in Barcelona, Spain. Last year, Tuan Sing bought Fraser Residence River Promenade, a serviced apartment development with 72 units, three conservation warehouses and 47 car park lots, located at Jiak Kim Street, from Frasers Property for S$140.9 million. Private fund option Can Frasers Property do better holding its hospitality assets in private funds compared with listed trusts? Possibly, private funds may value the group's hospitality assets more richly than the listed space. Maybe, Frasers Property can bundle its hospitality assets to sell to a private fund which the group holds a minority stake in and manages, based on latest independent asset valuations. In this way, Frasers Property lightens its balance sheet, earns management fee income and improves return on equity. Besides being FHT's sponsor, Frasers Property is a sponsor of Frasers Centrepoint Trust and Frasers Logistics & Commercial Trust (FLCT), which are both members of the benchmark Straits Times Index. While the former trades well relative to book value, the latter trades way below its latest NAV per unit. If the private fund route works, maybe FLCT can be privatised with its properties, then put into a private fund. While Frasers Property deserves kudos for being a responsible sponsor by offering FHT's minority investors a clean exit on financially reasonable terms, the property group has to be accountable to its shareholders. Frasers Property might see hospitality as a core business and have a long-term investment view – still, it must work harder to improve capital efficiency to benefit its shareholders. Ultimately, Frasers Property's board should emulate what the boards of FHT's managers did by conducting a review of Frasers Property's strategy. Its free float is small – about 11 per cent of its shares are held by the public, based on its latest annual report. TCC Assets, which is linked to Thai tycoon Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi, owns around 86.9 per cent of Frasers Property. Given Frasers Property's small free float and deep discount to book value, the most plausible way to unlock value for its shareholders could be for Charoen to lead a consortium to privatise Frasers Property. Might the local bourse soon lose not only FHT but also Frasers Property, which is active in mixed-use, residential, retail, office, business park, logistics and industrial properties and has footprints in Singapore, Australia, Europe, China and South-east Asia? Privatisations and delistings are part of any functioning listed equities market. And minority investors of target entities will welcome receiving privatisation offers so long as these are not lowball ones. As privatisations play out on the local exchange, stakeholders working on developing Singapore's equities market must work fast and hard to make the local bourse more vibrant. (The writer owns shares in Frasers Property)
Time of India
14-05-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Thailand: Frasers Property makes second try to take REIT private in $1 billion deal
BENGALURU: Thai business magnate Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi's Frasers Property , on Wednesday, made a second attempt to take complete control of Frasers Hospitality Trust in a deal valuing the REIT at S$1.37 billion ($1.1 billion). The billionaire's family and Frasers Property already own a little over 60% of the hospitality real estate investment trust's (REIT) units, and have offered S$0.71 for each unit they do not own. The offer represents a 6.8% premium to the unit's closing price on Tuesday. The units' trading price jumped 4.5% on Wednesday to S$0.695, their highest since early September, 2022. Frasers Property's first buyout attempt, made in 2022 and worth S$0.70 per share, failed to get shareholder support. However, the Singapore-based developer's attempt is likely to succeed this time due to a compelling offer price, softening outlook of the hospitality sector and the REIT's small asset size, which limits its growth potential, said Vijay Natarajan , analyst at RHB Bank Singapore . The REIT, which debuted on the Singapore Exchange in 2014, manages a portfolio of 14 hospitality assets-including hotels and serviced residences-across nine cities in Asia, Australia, and Europe. Singapore's REIT sector has faced worries since the COVID-19 pandemic due to issues over rising interest rates, macroeconomic uncertainties and a weaker foreign exchange rate against the local dollar. "Hospitality trusts are inherently exposed to more business volatility due to shorter stays and periodic capital expenditure for asset enhancement initiatives," the companies said. Frasers Property said the REIT would remain constrained by both macroeconomic challenges and structural limitations, potentially hindering its ability to grow distributions per security (DPS) and net asset value (NAV).
