Bangsaphan Barmill to Raise Up to 1 Bln Baht in New Share Sale

Bangsaphan Barmill Pcl (BSBM), an affiliate of Thailand's largest maker of hot-rolled coil steel, may raise as much as 1 billion baht ($26 million) from the sale of new shares to repay some debt and fund expansion.

The steel bar maker plans to sell 226.5 million shares, or 20 percent of its enlarged capital, at 3.80 baht each to investors from tomorrow through Jan. 24, Kim Eng Securities (Thailand) Pcl, Bangsaphan Barmill's financial adviser, said in an e-mailed statement today.

Kim Eng will sell as much as an additional 33.5 million Bangsaphan Barmill shares because demand from institutional investors was seven times more than the stock offered, the Bangkok-based broker said.

Steel companies have been selling shares to the public to finance an expansion in production as rising sales of homes and exports of automobiles and other products increase steel demand in Thailand. G Steel Pcl (GSTEEL), Thailand's second-largest hot-rolled coil steelmaker, plans to raise $150 million selling shares to the public for the first time this quarter.

Bangsaphan Barmill's shares may start trading on Feb. 1 under the symbol ``BSBM'', Kim Eng said. The steel bar maker is controlled by the Sahaviriya Group, which also owns Sahaviriya Steel Industries Pcl.

Bangsaphan Barmill's net income from January through September last year rose 46 percent to 384.3 million baht from a year earlier, Kim Eng said. The company had sales of 4.6 billion baht in the first nine months of last year, compared with 4.2 billion baht for 2003.

The company is based in Amphur Bangsaphan district in Prachuap Khiri Khan province, about 281 kilometers (175 miles) southwest of Bangkok. Bangsaphan Barmill was established in November 1994 by the Sahaviriya Group and Taiwanese investors.

To contact the reporter on this story: Dominic G. Diongson in Bangkok at ddiongson@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Teo Chian Wei at cwteo@bloomberg.net.