Regulator rejects PTT's $4b bid for Glow Energy over monopoly concerns

It would have been Thailand's largest investment deal in 2018.

Reuters reports that Thailand's Energy Regulation Commission blocked PTT's bid for ENGIE-owned Glow Energy, citing that the nearly $4b deal would lead to a monopoly in some industrial areas. The deal would have been the largest investment deal in Thailand for 2018.

PTT had announced in June that it will acquire a 69.11% stake in Glow Energy, which is Thailand's largest private electricity generator. It supplies power for most of the country’s industrial estates as well as those to neighbour countries.

PTT unit Global Power Synergy (GPSC) said that it will no longer make the tender offer. “We respect the decision,” PTT chief executive Chansin Treenuchgron told reporters, adding that an appeal would be “up to GPSC’s board."

Meanwhile, ENGIE has indicated that it had other options for selling its stake in Glow Energy. The parent company has a two-year plan to sell off some of its non-core assets and re-invest proceeds in renewable energy, power grids, and energy services.

The acquisition would have expanded GPSC’s capacity to 4,835MW, making it the country’s fourth-largest electricity producer after state-owned Ratchaburi Electricity Generating Holding Pcl.

Read the full report here.