Dimet planning to raise B40m

PAINT / INITIAL PUBLIC OFFERING

Dimet planning to raise B40m

KRISSANA PARNSOONTHORN

The paint maker Dimet (Siam) Plc plans to raise 40 million baht from the public to expand its production capacity and invest in product research and development.

The company will float 40 million shares with a par value of 0.50 baht in its initial public offering, with the IPO price set at one baht apiece. Subscriptions are scheduled for Jan 10-11 and 14.

Shares of Dimet are expected to debut on the Market for Alternative Investment on Jan 21, the first for the MAI this year.

Suraphol Rujikarnchana, the company's managing director, said the company would use the 20 million baht raised from the IPO to increase paint production to 500,000 litres per month from 360,000 litres. Another five to 10 million baht would be used for research and development, with the remaining capital reserved for working capital.

The company has production facilities in Bang Poo Industrial Estate, Samut Prakan. It produces Wattyl paints for building, industrial and timber finishes.

Dimet expects its revenue for the 2008 financial year (July 1, 2007 to June 30, 2008) to grow by 10% from 300 million baht last year.

''We will expand in line with the industrial paint sector and big projects related to energy and construction. Demand for steel structure paint will be high,'' he said.

Somphob Sakpanpanom, president of Asset Pro Management, the financial adviser, said Dimet shares were expected to get a warm interest from investors as its IPO price is set lower than the MAI's price-to-earning ratio of 11 times.

Dimet has already staged a road show in seven major provinces and about 200 investors have expressed interest to subscribe Dimet shares. BFIT Securities, the lead underwriter, expects to allocate some 31 IPO million shares to retail and institutional investors and nine million shares to business patrons.