New KBank team to handle complex deals such as M&As

KBank recently appointed Sittichai Mahaguna, who used to run investment banking at CIMB Thai Bank, to oversee M&As, REITs and infrastructure funds, said Panop Ansusinha, head of the investment banking business division.

He said Sittichai had experience in these kinds of complicated products, and would help widen KBank’s range of investment-banking products. The full team is expected to help expand fee-based income by 20-30 per cent next year.

Fee-based income this year is expected to stay at Bt700 million, unchanged from 2014, because the market circumstances are not encouraging corporate customers to raise money through initial public offerings or funds, he said.

"Some customers have postponed their planned IPOs, but we will have at least five IPOs to offer to the market this year. Most of the IPOs are in the energy and retail sectors. Moreover, we have two customers ready to launch REITs worth a total of Bt15 billion but they should not be seen this year," he said.

Year to date, KBank has been the financial adviser for four IPOs with combined sizes of Bt5 billion, he said.

Panop said the bank next year would focus on larger deals than before, especially IPOs of more than Bt10 million, after getting the new team in place. The IPOs it has been handling up to now have ranged from Bt6 billion to Bt10 billion.

Sittichai said his role was to synergise investment banking, syndicated loans and Kasikorn Securities, which oversees IPOs.

KBank has a corporate customer base that has the potential to undertake M&A activities. The bank can offer financial solutions such as project financing and syndicated loans until the customers have prepared for M&A deals, he said.

At first, domestic M&As are expected to be seen more than offshore deals, as the bank has seen Chinese investors looking to buy property firms in Thailand.

"We expect to see large property companies acquire medium-sized firms to accelerate their portfolios," he said.