(Bloomberg) -- Ngern Tid Lor Co., a Thai microfinance company controlled by Bank of Ayudhya Pcl, has picked banks to explore a potential initial public offering that could raise as much as $1 billion, people with knowledge of the matter said.
The lender and insurance broker is working with Morgan Stanley, Phatra Securities Pcl and UBS AG on preparations for the possible IPO in Bangkok, which could launch as soon as in the first half of next year, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private.
Deliberations are at an early stage and details of the potential offering including size and timeline are subject to change, the people said. Representatives for Ngern Tid Lor, Morgan Stanley, Phatra Securities and UBS declined to comment.
A Ngern Tid Lor IPO would potentially provide an exit opportunity for investors including a consortium led by CVC Capital Partners. The group bought a 50% stake in the company from Bank of Ayudhya, which is controlled by Japan's Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc, and completed the sale in 2019.
The IPO would also join a growing number of offerings in Thailand, where companies have raised $4.4 billion this year, already the biggest annual total since 2013, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. SCG Packaging Pcl, a unit of Thailand's oldest conglomerate, this month raised 39.5 billion baht ($1.3 billion) in the nation's biggest IPO since the outbreak. The next big debut could come from PTT Oil and Retail Business Pcl, a unit of oil giant PTT Pcl, which has secured regulatory approval for a share sale.
Ngern Tid Lor, whose name means “money on wheels,” offers small consumer loans to customers using their cars, trucks and motorcycles as collateral, according to the company's website. It has more than 1,000 branches across the country, and provides insurance products such as personal accident and motor vehicle coverage.
Ngern Tid Lor's net income in 2019 rose 69% from a year earlier to 2.2 billion baht ($71 million), according to the company's regulatory filing for its bond sale in September.
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