Is Thai Beverage worth drinking to?
The spirits giant is finally making good money from beer, but the biggest risk is its Thailand concentration
TEN years ago, the Singapore Exchange (SGX) scored a coup. Thailand's largest brewer Thai Beverage, or ThaiBev, ditched plans to list in the Buddhist nation for the Singapore bourse, following protests back home against its alcohol-centric business.
The ThaiBev initial public offering (IPO) raised S$1.4 billion. It became Singapore's largest IPO since the listing of telco giant Singtel in 1993. The listing also diversified the profile of SGX, which was becoming dominated by Chinese IPOs.
A decade later, ThaiBev has fulfilled its promise to Singapore investors who bought its IPO shares at 28 cents apiece.
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