Seven major firms have debt issues totalling more than 1 trillion baht

among them, CP Group, which holds debenture stocks with a total outstanding value of over 800 billion baht.

The Association estimates that the issuance of new debentures in 2024 will range from 900 billion to 1 trillion baht. This includes new debentures worth 400-450 billion baht and debenture rollovers of approximately 500-550 billion baht. The value of new debentures is expected to remain stable or slightly lower than in 2022, with a total of 1.02 trillion baht.

Regarding the impact of the “defaulted debenture” issue on this year's company rollovers, 
Somjin Sornpaisarn, ThaiBMA's managing director, said that based on statistics, the average rollover rate is around 60% of debentures that have matured. This year, approximately 890 billion baht in debentures will be maturing, of which about 791 billion baht or 90% are investment-grade debentures.

The factors influencing a lower rollover of debentures depend on interest rate trends. If interest rates decrease, businesses may seek loans from banks and use the money to pay off maturing debentures. Larger companies could get cheaper financing and thus may not need to rush to issue new debentures to lock in costs. Under these circumstances, it is difficult to predict whether defaulted debentures will affect the rollover of debentures this year, Somjin explained. 

A recent survey forecast that the interest rate in 2024 is expected to remain at the current policy rate of 2.50% for some time. It is anticipated that the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) may reduce interest rates in the latter half of 2024, once or perhaps twice, but not exceeding 0.5% for the entire year.

Thansettakij media firm examined the listed companies with the highest outstanding debenture values (exceeding 100 billion baht) from the Thai Bond Market Association’s (ThaiBMA) website as of January 12 . They found 7 companies with a total outstanding debenture value of 1,084,822 billion baht and a total of 67 debentures maturing in the year, totaling 225.29 billion baht.

1.    CP All Plc (CPALL)
Outstanding debentures at the end of 2023: 233.51 billion baht
Debentures maturing in 2024: 25.75 billion baht
Total outstanding in 2023: 234.06 billion baht

2.    True Corporation Plc (TRUE)
Outstanding debentures at the end of 2023: 182.77 billion baht
Debentures maturing in 2024: Approximately 36.41 billion baht

3.PTT Plc (PTTC)
Outstanding debentures at the end of 2023: 143.35 billion baht
Debentures maturing in 2024: Approximately 39.35 billion baht
At the end of 2022, the total outstanding was 234.06 billion baht

4. Siam Cement Plc (SCC)
Outstanding debentures at the end of 2023: 140 billion baht
Debentures maturing in 2024: Approximately 60 billion baht
The outstanding amount is the same as at the end of 2022, which was 140 billion baht

5. Gulf Energy Development Plc (GULF)
Outstanding debentures at the end of 2023: 135 billion baht
Debentures maturing in 2024: Approximately 14.5 billion baht
Compared to 2022, the outstanding amount was 104.50 billion baht

6. Charoen Pokphand Foods Plc (CPF)
Outstanding debentures at the end of 2022: 126.46 billion baht
Debentures maturing in 2024: Approximately 16.83 billion baht
Compared to the end of 2022, the outstanding amount was 138.01 billion baht

7. True Move H Universal Co Ltd Communication Plc (TUC)
Outstanding debentures at the end of 2023: 123.72 billion baht, including 29.97 billion baht in debentures of Dtac TriNet Co Ltd (DTN). Debentures maturing in 2024: Approximately 32.44 billion baht
The compilation shows that only CP Group had outstanding debentures last year of over 800 billion (814.65 billion baht), with debentures maturing in 2024 amounting to approximately 169.87 billion baht.