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Tag: central group

  • Charoen said to also compete for Big C in Thailand, Vietnam

    Charoen said to also compete for Big C in Thailand, Vietnam

    Some of Thailand’s richest families are preparing to compete for the Southeast Asian operations of French supermarket operator Casino Guichard-Perrachon SA, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

    Billionaire Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi’s TCC Holding Co and the Chirathivat family’s Central Group are weighing first-round bids for the Big C Supercenter chains in Thailand and Vietnam, which are due Feb 5, the people said.

    The companies have been speaking with banks about advisory roles and financing options, according to the people, who asked not to be named as the process is private.

    Casino’s controlling stake in Bangkok-listed unit Big C Supercenter Plc could fetch more than $3 billion (108.4 billion baht), while a sale of its Vietnam business could raise as much as $800 million, the people said. The Vietnamese operations have also drawn interest from Tokyo-based retailer Aeon Co, two of the people said.

    A deal would add to the $54.9-billion of acquisitions in Southeast Asia over the past 12 months, data compiled by Bloomberg show. The proposed disposals are part of Casino’s plan to cut debt by more than €4 billion ($4.3 billion) this year, after its share price slumped more than 50% in the past 12 months.

    Casino may sell its businesses in the two countries together or separately, depending on the offers it receives, the people said. The French company owns 58.6% of SET-listed Big C Supercenter.

    A person who answered the phone at Mr Charoen’s office in Bangkok said he wasn’t available for comment. Spokesmen for Aeon and Big C Supercenter declined to comment, while representatives for Casino, Central Group and TCC didn’t answer phone calls seeking comment. An investor-relations official for Berli Jucker Plc, the Bangkok-listed consumer goods distributor controlled by TCC, also didn’t answer a phone call seeking comment.

    Central Group is among Thailand’s biggest conglomerates, employing over 70,000 people in businesses from retail to real estate, according to its website. It bought Italian luxury department store La Rinascente in 2011 and Danish department store Illum in 2013.

    TCC, led by Thailand’s richest man, agreed last year to buy Metro AG’s Cash & Carry wholesale business in Vietnam for €655 million. The conglomerate acquired control of Singapore food and beverage maker Fraser & Neave Ltd in 2013.

    Big C Supercenter, founded by the Chirathivat family, opened its first store in Bangkok in 1994, according to its website. Casino took control of the Thai-listed company five years later.

    Shares of Big C Supercenter have gained 15% this year, giving it a market value of 191.4 billion baht ($5.3 billion). The company has 580 stores in Thailand at the end of March 2014, ranging from hypermarkets to convenience stores, according to its website.

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  • Thai Central says keen to bid for Casino’s units in Thailand, Vietnam

    Thai Central says keen to bid for Casino’s units in Thailand, Vietnam

    Thailand’s largest retail conglomerate Central Group is keen to bid for Casino Group’s Thai and Vietnam operations, a company executive said.

    Casino owns 58.6 percent of Big C Supercenter Pcl, which has a total a market value of $5.5 billion. Casino said last week it was keen to sell this stake after announcing it would sell its Vietnam unit in the first quarter.

    “We are interested in both Big C in Thailand and Vietnam,” Prin Chirathivat, deputy chief executive officer told Reuters.

    “If the prices are not too expensive, we will be keen to bid,” Prin said adding his family, the Chirathivats, has a combined 25 percent stake in Big C. Central has been actively looking to buy assets overseas as it wants to expand into Southeast Asia and Europe.

     

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  • Central Group eyes Casino’s units in Thailand, Vietnam

    Central Group eyes Casino’s units in Thailand, Vietnam

    Thailand’s largest retail conglomerate Central Group is keen to bid for Casino Group’s Thai and Vietnam operations, a company executive said.

    Casino owns 58.6% of Big C Supercenter Plc, which has a total a market value of $5.5 billion. Casino said last week it was keen to sell this stake after announcing it would sell its Vietnam unit in the first quarter.

    “We are interested in both Big C in Thailand and Vietnam,” Prin Chirathivat, deputy chief executive officer.

    “If the prices are not too expensive, we will be keen to bid,” Mr Prin said adding his family, the Chirathivats, has a combined 25% stake in Big C.

    Central has been actively looking to buy assets overseas as it wants to expand into Southeast Asia and Europe.

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  • Thailand’s Central Group cautious over 2016 expansion

    Thailand’s Central Group cautious over 2016 expansion

    Central Group sees 2016 as another year to be more conservative with expansion, as the country’s largest retail operator is still concerned about weak domestic consumption. Prin Chirathivat, deputy chief executive officer, said yesterday that both the global and domestic economies are expected to improve in the coming year. The only worry was moribund consumer spending, as the group is heavily involved in the retail business.

    Unlike the retail business, the group’s hotel business was still performing well this year.

    The group will continue to develop department stores as planned but with a cautious approach.

    “We have to be well prepared with a more flexible plan and put more focus on our core business,” he said.

    The company appears to be hedging its risk by focusing less on non-core businesses like warehousing.

    To support future growth of its hard-line business, which heavily relies on inventory management, Central Group’s CRC Power Retail is forming a 50:50 joint venture with WHA Corporation Plc.

    WHA Central Alliance was established with Bt850 million in registered capital to manage its Bt4-billion warehouse project in Ayutthaya’s Wang Noi district.

    Located on 320 rai (51.2 hectares) of land owned by Central Group, the new warehouse will offer a total of 250,000 square metres of space. As the first phase, Central Group has already built a 56,000sqm facility on 100 rai.

    The JV would take over both the land and warehouse under a sale-and-leaseback deal and carry out the next two phases to expand its capacity to 250,000sqm in three years. The Bt4-billion investment includes land.

    Jareeporn Jarukornsakul, vice chairman and chief executive officer of WHA, said that through the sale and leaseback of the first phase, the new JV will realise revenue of about Bt100 million from the beginning.

    The first phase was aimed at serving Central’s hard-line retail business consisting of Thai Watsadu, HomeWorks, Baan&Beyond and Power Buy.

    In preparation for continuing expansion, particularly of the new imported product line-up, the second phase is scheduled to be completed next year, adding 28,000sqm of rental space.

    The hard-line business has played an important role in the group accounting for 10 per cent of total revenue, with an average annual growth of at least 10 per cent in revenue.

    Somyos Anantaprayoon, chairman of WHA, said that after the completion of all phases, Central Group would lease 60 per cent of the total warehouse space for 10 years. The remaining areas would be available for new customers.

    With experience in the build-to-suit warehouse business, WHA could help clients to save about 30 per cent in costs incurred by constructing their own warehouse.

    WHA projects Bt400 million a year in income from the completed project, which would boost its rental, service and utilities income by 10 per cent.

    Jareeporn said the JV was the third collaboration with Central Group. The company already provides the group a 23,000sqm warehouse and distribution complex on Bang Na-Trad Road and a 20,000sqm cold storage facility on Rama II Road.

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  • Central Pattana plans four new malls

    Central Pattana plans four new malls

    Thai shopping centre operator Central Pattana has announced plans for another four or five shopping malls to be completed by 2018.

    The company says it has allocated THB30 billion (US$838 million)  for the new properties – which it says are in addition to a raft of previously announced planned properties.

    Central Pattana is the listed property development subsidiary of Central Group which owns shopping centres the length and breadth of Thailand and in Italy, Germany and China.

    The new malls will be built in the capital city of Bangkok and in larger regional cities. It has already announced plans to build centres in Phuket, Nakhon Ratchasima and Nakhon Si Thammarat.

    “CPN still aims for further expansion in major economic cities, as well as locations with potential business both in Thailand and neighbouring countries to demonstrate its sustainable growth,” said CFO Naparat Sriwanvit.

    Besides its Thai plans, the company is proceeding with a Malaysian joint venture to open a shopping mall in Kuala Lumpur and it is conducting feasibility studies on entering Vietnam and Indonesia.

    Parent Central already operates a Central Department Store in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta and the group has assets including a joint venture electronics chain and a department store in Vietnam.

    CPN runs 26 shopping malls in Bangkok and in major provinces, including Hat Yai.

  • Central Group reveals German deal

    Central Group reveals German deal

    Central Group, the Thai retail conglomerate, will purchase a majority stake in three German department shops – together with the nation’s largest, the historic KaDeWe in downtown Berlin.

    For a number of months, Central has been reporting it was in negotiations to buy a division retailer in Germany however didn’t reveal any additional particulars of the manufacturers.

    Now Central has confirmed it’s going to purchase a majority 50.1 per cent stake in The KaDeWe Group, which additionally owns the Oberpollinger and Alsterhaus shops in Munich and Hamburg. The present proprietor Signa, will retain the stability of the shareholding.

    The worth of the deal was not revealed however Central Group had earlier indicated it had a finances of US$300 million for acquisitions this yr.

    Central, which operates malls and branded retail networks in Thailand, already owns the La Rinascente Division Retailer community in Italy and the Danish division retailer Illum, and is increasing its Southeast Asian division retailer community in Vietnam, Indonesia and Malaysia.

    All three of the newly acquired shops have greater than 100 years of buying and selling historical past and are thought-about luxurious malls with a excessive normal of service, visible merchandising and product high quality.

    KaDeWe is Germany’s largest single division retailer within the coronary heart of the previous West Berlin retail precinct, with greater than 60,000 sqm of buying and selling area. It opened in 1907.

    The Oberpollinger in Munich opened in 1905 and the Alsterhaus is the oldest of the three, courting again to 1897.

    Final week, Central stated it deliberate to assemble a La Rinascente retailer in Turin, which might be that chain’s 13th when it opens in two years time.

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  • Central Group Thailand eyes Turin retailer

    Central Group Thailand eyes Turin retailer

    Thailand’s Central Group says it’s planning to open a brand new division retailer within the Italian metropolis of Turin inside the subsequent two years.

    Central Group Thailand is already engaged in a gentle worldwide enlargement plan, having final yr opened its first division retailer in Indonesia and this yr having confirmed it’s in negotiations to purchase an unidentified German division retailer.

    Tos Chirathivat, the group’s CEO, was quoted by the Bangkok Submit newspaper saying the corporate is negotiating the rental of 10,000sqm in an undisclosed Turin website the place it’s going to open a La Rinascente division retailer. Central owns 11 La Rinascente department shops in Italy and has a 12th underneath development in Rome, which might make Flip its 13th location.

    Central Group Thailand additionally owns the Illum retailer in Denmark, at present underneath renovation.

    Tos informed the Bangkok Submit La Rinascente gross sales grew 13 per cent to euro 600 million within the first quarter of this yr. About one third of the gross sales are to vacationers, largely Chinese language.

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  • Thai retail leader Central Group to invest USD1.14b in 2015

    Thai retail leader Central Group to invest USD1.14b in 2015

    Thailand’s largest retail conglomerate, Central Group, plans to invest USD1.14 billion this year, expanding at home and in Southeast Asian neighbours by opening new malls to tap into cross-border trade and lining up acquisitions.

    Controlled by Thailand’s richest family, the unlisted firm told reporters at a news conference on Monday it plans to accelerate revenue growth to 15 percent this year, to THB287 billion (USD8.8 billion), compared with 6.6 percent growth in 2014.

    Central Group is among a group of major Thai companies looking to buy more international assets, especially in Vietnam, Indonesia and Malaysia.

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