Baker & McKenzie Advises PTT Exploration and Production on THB5 Billion Hybrid Bonds Offering

Bangkok, Thailand, 19 July 2012 – Baker & McKenzie recently advised PTT Exploration and Production Public Company Limited (PTTEP) on its THB5 billion hybrid bonds offering − the first such offering by a non-financial institution in Thailand's history.

The hybrid bonds are perpetual capital subordinated debentures and have embedded in them certain key equity-like features in order to obtain ‘equity credit’ from the rating agencies.

PTTEP is a state-owned enterprise and is one of the leading exploration and production companies in South East Asia. It is an affiliate company of PTT Public Company Limited, one of the most profitable companies in Thailand and the only Thai company to be ranked on the Fortune Global 500 2012 list.

The Baker & McKenzie team was led by Bangkok-based Capital Markets Partner Viroj Piyawattanametha and assisted by Associates Samata Masagee and Kowit Adireksombat.

Commenting on the transaction, Viroj Piyawattanametha, who has extensive experience in complex capital markets transactions in Thailand, said, “We are delighted to have had the opportunity to assist PTTEP on this first-to-market transaction. The deal involved quite a number of novel legal and regulatory aspects given the highly regulated nature of hybrid debt instruments. We had to work closely with our client, the joint lead managers, and the regulator to develop the terms and conditions for the debentures that met both SEC regulations and equity credit criteria. We are very pleased that the deal has come to fruition successfully, and it will be interesting to see if this landmark deal will pave the way for other Thai companies seeking to raise financing locally.”

The Siam Commercial Bank, Krung Thai Bank and KASIKORNBANK acted as the joint lead managers for the transaction.