Shin unloads all shares in Capital OK

The Nation (22 November 2007)

Shin Corp on Tuesday signed a share-purchase agreement with Acap Advisory and Orix to sell all shares in its personal-loan provider, Capital OK, to the two companies.

In a filing with the Stock Exchange of Thailand yesterday, Shin said 74,999,994 shares were sold, representing 99.99 per cent of Capital OK's registered and paid-up capital.

The transaction is worth Bt290 million for the shares alone or Bt990 million if the value of a Bt700-million loan granted to Capital OK by Shin is included.

After the transaction, Acap will own 50.99 per cent of Capital OK, and ORIX will own the rest. Shin expects to receive Bt990 million in cash from the deal no later than December 14.

Orix is an integrated financial-services group based in Japan with assets of US$70 billion (Bt2.37 trillion).

The two purchasers are responsible for securing sources of funding to repay the loan to Shin. If they are unable to find funding in time, the transaction will be cancelled.

Acap and Orix announced last month that they would take over the entire stake of debts in Capital OK from Shin for Bt990 million.

The divestment of Capital OK is in line with the plan of Temasek Holdings- controlled Shin to focus solely on the telecom business, Advanced Info Service.

OAG to probe NTC's spending abroad

The Nation (22 November 2007)

The Office of the Auditor-General (OAG) is reinvestigating expenditures on foreign study tours by the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) in its 2006 budget following complaints about the high amount, a source at the national telecom regulator said.

The source said the OAG renewed its investigation recently after having already completed its routine scrutiny of the NTC's 2006 budget. "The OAG has asked for more information on the overseas study tour expenses of the commissioners and their staff," the source said.

Asked about the matter, NTC secretary-general Suranan Wongvithayakamjorn said the OAG's examination of the NTC's expenditure was nothing unusual. The telecom licensing body set aside a budget for overseas study tours and training of Bt70 million each for last year and this year.

Meanwhile, chairman Choochart Phromprasid said the NTC had earlier expected to receive total regulatory revenue of Bt3 billion this year, but its two major licensees - TOT and CAT Telecom - have yet to pay overdue fees of around Bt1 billion.

Excluding this amount, the telecom regulator expects to have Bt800 million of unspent revenue this year.

Choochart said part of this amount would be put into regulatory funds and part of it to finance the administration of its key institutions, including the Telecommunications Research and Industrial Institute and the Telecom Consumer Protection Institute (TCPI).

The TCPI yesterday appointed Prawit Leesataponwongsa as its first chairman. Prawit was on the social committee of the National Economic and Social Advisory Council.

Don't take candy from candidates

The Nation (22 November 2007)

The ICT Expo 2007 successfully wrapped up on Tuesday, with students and parents and kids filling up the exhibition hall during the four-day event.

It must have been a good day for Choochart Phromprasid, chairman of the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC), for it's known that the old man has a soft spot for kids.
At the NTC booth on Tuesday, Choochart took photos with guests. But when he saw some kids, he wanted a photograph with them. He turned his back to the NTC booth so that the passers-by could join the photo session. But that meant he was being photographed in front of CAT Telecom's booth.

An idea popped up: he asked the group to stand in front of the NTC booth and take more photos. Posing beside him was a little girl who came with her mother. Choochart was delighted and chit-chatted with the girl in a friendly way that only made other telecom operators jealous. At the end, he said: "Here, Uncle will give you some money."

The girl's mother was surprised, asking people who was this old man. She had a reason to do so. As the election is approaching, people giving out money can easily be deemed as MP candidates. Who else would give Bt1,000 to a girl he had just met? Nimit goes all coy on media

"It's not easy to run a PR company" is probably the ultimate answer that Nimit … , 124 Communications, would have liked to give at yesterday's press conference.

Yesterday, his company assisted … in publicising his plan to develop a theme park and a residential development project.

But the developer did not want to divulge many details. The press release contained only brief information on the new projects. The executive, …, was also rather reserved.

Nimit must have thought that reporters would not be satisfied with the answers. Standing next to …, he helped answer nearly every question. One was the exact value of the development projects and when the residential project is expected to be sold out. While … did not give a round figure on the value, Nimit said it's beyond Bt10 billion. Of the sales period, he said within a month while … was reluctant to be specific.

Nimit turned off his microphone only when reporters asked if they could quote him or … in their articles.

He was a figure of sympathy, standing in the middle of his clients and reporters and trying to impress both sides.