RATCH Turns from Unattractive Stock to Brighter Future One with Public Utilities Business

Since last Friday, the company named Ratchaburi Electricity Generating Holding Public Company Limited (RATCH) had changed and was no longer the same as it had changed the company name to Ratch Group Public Company Limited, though still using the same trading symbol (RATCH), and proclaimed its greatness by expanding the business to public utilities and other businesses instead of its usual electricity generation.

The objective of RATCH is to achieve a 200,000 million baht company by 2023.

 

The business expansion and market penetration of RATCH has taken its first big step on June 16, 2017, when the company decided to establish a joint venture by holding 10% stake under the name BRS Consortium, having BTS Group Holdings Public Company Limited (BTS), who held 75% stake as the leader of the consortium, Sino-Thai Engineering and Construction Public Company Limited (STEC), holding 15% stake.

The aim of this joint venture was to participate in the bidding for elevated mass rapid transit Yellow and Pink Line in which BRS Consortium had won the bidding in the end.

On November 12, 2018, BRS Consortium participated in the bidding for a high-speed railway connecting three airports, but lost to CP Group and its allies.

Moreover, at the end of 2018, RATCH acquired 40% of Asia Water Sole Co., Ltd. with an investment of almost THB 200 million in Laos with a concession of 50 years.

At the beginning of 2019, RATCH signed an agreement with ALT Telecom Public Company Limited (ALT) to invest in underground optic fiber network projects.

These are the investments in public utilities that RATCH had invested in domestically and internationally.

 

As for its electricity production business which is the core business that makes RATCH the “RATCH” everyone knows today is continuously advancing overseas. The most two recent investments were the wind farm with an installed capacity of 226 MW in Australia which the company had invested almost THB 6,000 million in this acquisition, and Riau Combined-Cycle power plant project in Indonesia with a production capacity of 275 MW along with 20-year PPA. The project is expected to commence the operation in 2021.

Thus, the name changing with the objective of becoming the leader in the energy business and public utilities is in line with the process and development RATCH has been doing for the past two years.

The expansion gives RATCH different routes to increase its revenue and profit while erasing the old image of “good fundamental, but unattractive stock”, and creating a new image of stock with bright future instead.