The CEO of Thai fixed-line operator Jasmine International, Pete Bodharamik, plans to spend nearly 40 billion baht ($1.15 billion) to buy out all the shares in the company he does not currently own.
Already Jasmine’s largest shareholder, Bodharamik has now launched a tender offer to buy the remaining 68.93% of shares in Jasmine and the remaining 89.73% of the warrants, the Bangkok Postreported.
In a statement, Jasmine said Bodharamik has no intention of taking Jasmine private, and that the tender offer is merely to ensure “more effective business management.”
But the offer follows speculation that the company will need to pursue a sale or merger to remain afloat.
The speculation was prompted by the highly-publicised failure of subsidiary JAS Mobile Broadband to pay the first instalment of its $2.14 billion (75.65 billion baht) license fee for the 900-MHz spectrum JAS had successfully bid for in an auction last December.
JAS’ 645 million baht bank guarantee was confiscated following the default, the company was additionally fined nearly 200 million baht and the spectrum was not awarded to the company.