Dusit Thani Public Company Ltd lists new property fund on Thailand stock market – driving company growth and paving the way for further international expansion.

DTCPF is the first fund listed on the Thai stock exchange for 2011.  Its first batch of securities became available for public trading on January 13 and will be a new choice for investors, especially those who missed the IPO, which received a huge response as drawn by Dusit’s goodwill, prime locations of its hotels and attractive rates of returns.  In addition to these positive factors, this year’s anticipated growth of Thailand’s tourism industry would also drive the growth of the fund’s underlying business.  It is confident the fund’s units will be warmly welcomed by investors in the stock market.

Bangkok - Mr Chanin Donavanik, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Dusit Thani Public Company Limited (DTC), revealed that after the overwhelming success of the initial public offering (IPO) of investment units in Dusit Thani Freehold and Leasehold Property Fund, the fund is now ready to be listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) in the category of property funds and to have its units traded, under the abbreviated name “DTCPF”, on 13 January.

The investment policy of the THB 4.094 billion fund includes the acquisition of freehold interest in land, buildings and utilities as well as furniture, property, fixtures and equipment of Dusit Thani Laguna Phuket and dusitD2 chiang mai and a 30-year leasehold interest in land, buildings and utilities and own furniture, property, fixtures and equipment of Dusit Thani Hua Hin, with the freehold portion representing over 75% of all investments. 

The fund was open for subscription during its IPO period of 7 – 17 December at the par value of THB 10 each.  The underwriters of the fund included CIMB Securities (Thailand) Co., Ltd. and Kim Eng Securities PCL.  CIMB Thai Bank PCL and Krung Thai Bank PCL were designated as its selling agents and Krung Thai Asset Management PCL (KTAM) its manager.

“The hotel industry shows signs of growth, as the number of tourists visiting Thailand has increased.  According to the 2011 estimate of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), the country will record 15.5 million inbound tourists, which will account for over THB 600 billion of revenues.  This is a positive outlook and reflects the industry’s good prospects.  On behalf of the management of DTC, the property manager, we will operate Dusit hotels to our best ability to ensure maximum efficiency that lives up to the expectation of the investors, ” said Mr Chanin Donavanik.

Mr Somchai Boonnamsiri, CEO of KTAM, the fund manager, noted that DTCPF is first product that is listed on the SET this year and offers a diversified investment opportunity to investors in the stock market, especially those who had missed it during the IPO period.

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“After the listing, DTCPF will achieve the status as the largest hotel property fund.  Such standing will ensure that the attractiveness and liquidity of its securities are always at high levels.  Meanwhile, the loyalty to the internationally-recognised ‘Dusit’ brand, the great potential of the underlying investments and the perceived satisfactory rates of returns will further guarantee its success, as already secured at the IPO,” said Mr Somchai.

As for returns on investment, DTC as the assets owner offers annual rental guarantee from the three hotels in the first four years at least THB 381 million per year, to measure up to the fund’s size of THB 4.094 billion.  It will also secure a bank guarantee of THB 125 million per year to ensure that the investors could enjoy dividend payouts at satisfactory rates.  As a result, KTAM is confident that DTCPF would be warmly welcomed by the SET investors.

Dusit International currently operates four hotels in the UAE.  The hotel chain is also represented in Egypt and has properties set to open shortly in Qatar, Bahrain, India and Abu Dhabi, UAE.