Thai Tycoon Bids $6.6 Billion for Siam Makro

By P.R. VENKAT, ISABELLA STEGER,and PRUDENCE HO
Thailand’s richest man, billionaire Dhanin Chearavanont, has offered to buy discount-store operator Siam Makro PCL for $6.6 billion in what would be the biggest deal in the Asian-Pacific region this year and the biggest-ever takeover of a Thai company.
Under Thai takeover regulations, Mr. Dhanin’s CP ALL CPL, which operates convenience stores under the 7-Eleven brand in Thailand, will initially acquire a 64.35% stake in Siam Makro and then make an offer for the remainder of the company, CP ALL said in a filing to the Thai stock Exchange.

Reuters
Dhanin Chearavanont, chairman of Thailand’s largest agribusiness group, Charoen Pokphand Food, is making a $6.6 billion bid for discount-store operator Siam Makro.

Siam Makro, which was founded in 1988, operates the Makro discount-store chain, selling food and consumer products to wholesalers, retailers, small businesses, caterers and consumers. The company had 57 stores across Thailand as of end-2012, including 11 in Bangkok.
The offer by CP ALL represents a 15.4% premium to Siam Makro’s last traded price of 682 baht (US$23.73) a share.
The offer comes just months after Mr. Dhanin closed a $9.4 billion deal to buy HSBC Holdings PLC’s 16% stake in Ping An Insurance (Group) Co. of China Ltd. He acquired the stake through his agribusiness company Charoen Pokphand Group.
Thailand’s retail sector is heating up amid robust economic growth and changes in government policies. The offer for Siam Makro eclipses Big C’s $1.2 billion purchase of French retail giant Carrefour SA’s Thai operations, according to Dealogic.
Write to P.R. Venkat at venkat.pr@dowjones.com, Isabella Steger at isabella.steger@wsj.com and Prudence Ho at prudence.ho@wsj.com

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