Thai hire-purchase and vehicle leasing firm Siam Panich Leasing is planning a raid on the domestic ABS market, sources reported. The company will work with parent company Siam Commercial Bank and a foreign firm on a THB5 billion (US$121.3 million) issue backed by auto loans.
It is believed four banks are in the running for the foreign advisory role - Citigroup Global Markets, Deutsche Bank Securities, HSBC Securities and Standard Chartered. All four have previous experience arranging Thai securitizations.
Siam Panich will follow the path set by another Siam subsidiary, Siam Industrial Credit Public Co., which in June completed the country's largest ABS to date. StanChart and Siam Commercial Bank jointly led the THB4 billion auto-loan offering.
Other issuers, including the Thai government, property developer Land & Houses, and consumer finance company, AEON Thana Sinsap, have also recently confirmed plans to issue ABS this year.
Meanwhile, in Malaysia, Multi Vest Resources, principally an oil palm plantation, has finally received regulatory approval for its M$160 million debut Islamic ABS after a four-month delay. While that might seem an abnormally long time to get a transaction approved, it is by no means uncommon in Malaysia. The transaction is expected to close in the coming weeks, a source close to the deal said.
Multi Vest began pre-marketing the transaction in March. The deal, structured by Deutsche Bank, will see the company dispose plantation assets to the ABS Plantation Assets SPV. Multi Vest will use proceeds from the sale, issued under the Islamic deferred payment principal of Al Bai Bithaman Ajil, to finance its acquisition of Pinehill Ventures.
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