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Published on February 22, 2008

The transaction closed on January 31 and a Lombard representative has joined the company's board of directors.

Lombard subscribed to a special issue of five-year convertible debentures, convertible into ordinary shares representing a 20.2-per-cent equity interest in the company.

"We are delighted to work with [Krungthep Land's] management team as we support the company's next level of growth and success," said Lombard managing director Thomas Smith.

Vehicle sales up 17% last month

Last month, total vehicle sales amounted to 45,431 units, up 17.6 per cent year on year and marking the first rise in two months, says Toyota Motor Thailand.

Last December, 64,346 vehicles were sold, down 23.87 per cent year on year. As a result, full-year sales amounted to only 631,000 vehicles, down 7.5 per cent from 2006.

Toyota attributed last month's increase to consumers waiting until this year to buy new cars, due to the introduction of environmentally friendly E20 fuel, which is subject to lower excise tax than is normal petrol.

Television Pool Olympics deal

Television Pool of Thailand has paid Bt118 million for a licence to broadcast this year's Olympic Games, says company chairman Kittitat Bamnejphan.

The 2008 Beijing Olympics will be held from August 7-23.

Despite marking a big loss broadcasting the previous Olympics, Kittitat expects the company to earn more from sponsors at this year's event.

"We recorded a net loss of 40 per cent from what we invested for the licences to air live the previous Olympics, because the license was expensive and we had few sponsors," he said.

However, he said his company wanted Thais to watch the Games as they happened, even if the company bore a loss.

The Nation