P-Mart Superstore Co., Ltd., an expansion-minded frozen food wholesaler in Thailand, intends to raise 5 million baht ($151.51) through an initial public offering (IPO) over the next 18 months. It has named Asia Plus Group Holdings Securities as a financial advisor for the float, according to a DealStreetAsia report.
Headquartered in Nonthaburi Province, the company is a convenience-oriented, distributor of thousands of raw ingredients for cooking, including pork, chicken, shrimp, lobster, squid, mackerel, vegetables and other items. Its customer base consists primarily operators of restaurants, hotels and other foodservice businesses, in addition to retail stores.
The P-Mart Superstore grand opening in Ubonratchathani last October was attended by a large number of locals and business operators keen on checking out its extensive product line.
Sales reportedly amounted to 500 million baht during the first quarter of 2015, and topped 1 billion baht in 2014. The target for next year is 4 billion baht in turnover.
P-Mart currently has six outlets, with the latest branch opening for business in Sakonnakhon Province last December. It plans to utilize capital from the IPO to expand current stores and add more than 20 new units to the network by 2017, both in Thailand and abroad.
“We will spend 1 billion baht on expanding four branches in Nongkai, Nakhon Ratchasima, Buriram and Chiang Rai. The branch in Nakhon Ratchasima will be the biggest one as we will use it as a distribution center too,” said Polpat Sooknamai, the company’s business development manager.
Noting that the frozen food market value in Thailand increased by 10% to approximately 10 billion baht last year, he expects growth to continue – not only in Thailand, but in neighboring countries as well.
“For our overseas expansion, we are considering launching P-Mart in Laos and Vietnam first, because they have spending power and the food cultures are similar to Thailand’s,” said the business development manager.
