Thai Billionaire Charoen Streamlines $13 Billion Beer And Property Empire

Thai billionaire Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi is streamlining his $13 billion (market cap) beer and real estate business empire, with its flagship Singapore-listed Thai Beverage exiting the property business to become a pure play Southeast Asian food and beverage company.

In a filing to the Singapore Exchange on Thursday, Thai Beverage,—the maker of Chang beer—said its wholly owned unit InterBev Investment will swap its 28.8% stake in Singapore-listed Frasers Property with a 41.3% stake in SGX-listed beverage firm Fraser and Neave, a maker of non-alcoholic beverages that’s also owned by Charoen’s property arm TCC Assets.

Upon completion, InterBev Investment’s stake in Fraser and Neave will rise to 69.6%. TCC Asset’s holdings in Frasers Property will increase to 86.9% while its interest in F&N will fall to 17.6%.

“Our aim with the proposed share swap is to entrench our position as a stable and sustainable ASEAN leader and cement our pure-play status by exiting the property business,” Prapakon Thongtheppairot, group chief financial officer of Thai Beverage, said in a statement.

The proposed share swap will be executed at a ratio of approximately 1.88 Frasers Property shares for each F&N share. The ratio was determined based on a negotiated price of S$1.89 apiece for Frasers Property and S$3.55 for each F&N share. The non-cash share swap plan is subject to approval of Thai Beverage’s shareholders at an extraordinary general meeting that will be convened in Thailand.

The transaction will help strengthen and expand the reach of ThaiBev’s non-alcoholic beverage segment and F&N’s beverage and food brands across Southeast Asia, Prapakon said. “It will allow us to enhance our operational synergies and financial strength.”

Charoen spent $11.2 billion to take over F&N—one of Singapore’s oldest conglomerates—in 2013, expanding his real estate portfolio across Australia, China, Singapore and giving him exposure to F&N’s non-alcoholic beverages and dairy products.

With a net worth of $10 billion, Charoen ranked No. 3 among the Forbes Asia list of Thailand’s 50 richest that was published this month. Besides, Thai Beverage, Frasers Property and F&N, he also has interests in Thailand’s hypermarket chain Big C Supercenter, as well as real estate developer Asset World, which has hotels in tourist hotspots such as Bangkok, Phuket, Krabi and Pattaya. His daughter Wallapa Traisorat runs Asset World.