Retail investors showed little interest in the initial public offering (IPO) of Total Access Communication (DTAC) yesterday, with only half of the 77.7 million shares allocated for booking via bank channels being subscribed in the light of the jittery market.

However, DTAC was prepared for retail investors' cautious sentiment and remains confident all 222 million IPO shares to be offered on June 22 will be fully subscribed, due to the overwhelming appetite of institutional investors.

Bank bookings for the IPO shares opened on a day when Thai shares tumbled 1.42 per cent after a lawyer for Thaksin Shinawatra said the ousted prime minister might return to Thailand to fight corruption charges. On Monday, the Assets Examination Committee announced a freeze on the bank accounts of the deposed PM and his family.

DTAC will offer 222 million shares in its IPO at a price of Bt35 to Bt42 a share.

Of that total, 77.7 million shares have been designated for both local and foreign institutional investors; 77.7 million for individual Thai investors via booking at 1,500 branches of Kasikornbank and Siam Commercial Bank around the country; 51.06 million for retail investors via their brokers; 11.1 million for employees; and 4.44 million for the company's supporters.

The subscription period for retail investors began yesterday and ends today, with the share price finalised today.

SCB Securities chief executive ML Chayotid Kridakon said DTAC shares allocated to institutional investors and those for booking via brokers had already been oversubscribed two times.

SCB Securities and Kasikorn Securities, with international support from JP Morgan Securities, have led the DTAC share offering.

Subscriptions at bank branches for a total of 77.7 million shares began at 8.30am yesterday. The value of subscribed shares reached Bt710 million at 9am and passed Bt1 billion for a total of about 25 million shares at 10.30am. When the banks closed at 3.30pm, DTAC estimated that half of the 77.7 million shares had been subscribed by a total of 10,000 investors.

DTAC chief executive Sigve Brekke said he was happy with investors' reaction. "My advice [to investors] is hurry up," he laughed.

Stock analysts said the limited demand for the IPO shares at bank branches was a response to uncertainty about the political situation, prompting reluctance to invest.

DTAC chief commercial officer Thana Thienachariya said he believed the total share issue would be more than 100 per cent subscribed, given the overwhelming demand from institutional investors.

"The demand from institutional investors is higher than our expectation," he said.

DTAC's share price on the Singapore Stock Exchange closed at US$1.28 yesterday, up 0.8 per cent from Monday. The Singaporean-listed firm plans to maintain its dual-listing policy. Its market capitalisation of about Bt70 billion will make it one of the 20 largest companies traded on the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET).

When listed on the SET, DTAC will qualify for a 5-per-cent tax break for three years following the IPO.

As of this year's first quarter, DTAC had 13.3 million subscribers for its mobile-phone services.

Sirivish Toomgum

The Nation