Bangkok

A WELL-TIMED decision more than a decade ago to abandon coal in time for Thailand's natural-gas boom is poised to make Sarath Ratanavadi the newest billionaire in South-east Asia's second-largest economy.

Based on the low end of the pricing range for his Gulf Energy Development Pcl's initial public offering this week, Mr Sarath has a net worth of US$1.9 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Gulf Energy will try to raise at least 21.3 billion baht (S$880.3 million) between Nov 17 and Nov 27, after posting its first annual profit last year and boosting net income more than eight-fold in the first nine months of 2017 to 2.47 billion baht.