Thailand: Ratch aims to increase equity capacity under new chief Kijja

Thailand: Ratch aims to increase equity capacity under new chief Kijja

SET-listed Ratchaburi Electricity Generating Holding, Thailand's major
private power producer, plans to increase its equity-based generating
capacity by 7,000 megawatts by 2027 to strengthen its business for the long
term and maintain revenue growth, according to the policy of its new chief
executive officer Kijja Sripatthangkura.

The target of 7,000MW is a stretch from the previous plan to boost its
capacity by 3,000MW by 2023, a target that the company has also maintained.

Kijja said yesterday that the company would focus more on pursuing mergers
and acquisitions (M&A) of existing projects, especially in foreign markets,
to achieve the capacity-increase target quickly.

The company will also seek funding of at least Bt300 billion within 10 years
to achieve this target.

Ratch's current equity capacity is about 6,980MW, which includes both
current operations and those under the development. For this year, the
company still aims to meet the goal approved by its board by growing
equivalent capacity to 7,500MW, up from 6,980MW at present.

The company has maintained an investment budget of Bt10 billion this year,
of which Bt5.6 billion is to be injected into the projects under development
and the rest for M&A deals.

Kijja officially took over as CEO on April 6, replacing Rum Herabat, who
retired from the post.

For investment in greenfield projects, the company will focus on renewables,
because of their relatively short development periods of only one to three
years.

Moreover, the investment scope was enlarged to cover power, fuel, renewable
energy, and infrastructure as well as other businesses engaging in
innovation or new technologies that meet global mega-trends, such as
environmentally friendly and renewable-energy-related business.

This year, the company is focusing on monitoring the six projects that now
are under development or under construction, with combined 537MW capacity to
ensure its commercial operations as planned, and improving and maintaining
reliability and availability of key power plants to ensure it meets its
revenue targets.

On April 10, Ratch announced its successful expansion into Indonesia. Its
indirect subsidiary RH International (Singapore) Corporation (RHIS) has
entered a shareholder agreement with Medco Power Indonesia (MPI) to
established Medco Ratch Power Riau (MRPR).

MRPR will develop a natural-gas-fired combined-cycle power plant with 275-MW
capacity in Riau province. RHIS owns 49 per cent in MRPR, while MPI owns the
rest.

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

Link to Original Article:
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/news/business/corporate/30312845?utm_source=
feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Nationmultimediacom-Busines
s+%28NationMultimedia.com+-+Business%29

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

John Diecker
APT Consulting Group Co., Ltd.

www.aptthailand.com