Richest Thai man raises top bank’s stake to be No 3 shareholder

[BANGKOK] Gulf Development, controlled by Thailand’s richest man Sarath Ratanavadi, has raised its stake in Kasikornbank to about US$610 million, making it the commercial lender’s third-largest shareholder.

Gulf increased its holding of Kasikornbank by 0.53 per cent from the previous disclosure to 5.23 per cent, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission statement dated May 16. The power producer and telecommunication company had ranked fourth with a 3.49 per cent stake as at Apr 18 when the lender published its top shareholder list.

Sarath’s Gulf last month completed the merger with Intouch Holdings, the top shareholder in Thailand’s second-biggest telecom company Advanced Info Service. The company has a market capitalisation of about US$22 billion.

Kasikornbank’s share purchase by Gulf is part of its “normal investment”, aimed at generating higher capital gains and dividend, Gulf chief financial officer Yupapin Wangviwat told an investor meeting last week. Gulf has no plan for any close business operation with the bank in the near future, she said.

Sarath built Gulf into Thailand’s largest power producer and gained control of Intouch by gradually accumulating a 47 per cent stake. Sarath last week met with US President Donald Trump in Qatar, making him the only representative of a Thai business to do so, according to a Bangkok Post report.

Sarath has a net worth of about US$12.9 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Kasikornbank is Thailand’s second-biggest lender with total assets of 4.4 trillion baht (S$172 billion). Its shares are up about 5.5 per cent this year, bucking a 15 per cent slump in the broader Thai stock benchmark.

Gulf and its partners are among the group which have bid for the Bank of Thailand’s new virtual banking licenses. BLOOMBERG