Singapore, May 24 - ThaiBev sold shares worth S$1.37 billion ($869 million) in Singapore's biggest flotation in more than a decade but was forced to accept a price near the low end of the offer range amid choppy world financial markets.
Thai Beverage sold 4.89 billion shares at S$0.28 each, 22 percent below the top end of a S$0.26 to S$0.36 band after receiving a lukewarm reception from investors in Singapore and abroad. Half the shares were new shares.
But the company said in a statement on Wednesday it was "satisfied" with the outcome of what is the city-state's biggest initial public offering since Singapore Telecommunications' S$4.2 billion offer in 1993.
"It's the largest food and beverage company to list in 2006. It's gone through at 28 cents. The IPO was oversubscribed, approaching three times the shares issued," said a banker close to the deal. A company spokeswoman said the offer was oversubscribed but declined to give details.
ThaiBev said it had spoken to more than 130 institutional investors while marketing the deal in Asia, Europe and the United States and that there had been equal demand on the three continents.
Trading is scheduled to begin on May 30 at 0100 GMT.
Market participants said that turmoil in financial markets has kept investors cautious over the sale and some said the offer had looked too expensive at the upper end of the range.
World bourses have fallen in recent weeks, and Singapore stocks have slumped to levels last seen in January on worries over rising inflation and higher interest rates in the United States.
Thai Beverage, known for its Chang Beer and Mekhong whisky and Thailand's largest brewer and distiller, sought a Singapore listing after failed attempts to go public in Thailand, where it faced wrangling over whether alcohol firms are allowed to list in that country.
It wants to use proceeds to help pay down the company's roughly $966 million debt.