SET Senior Executive Vice President Manpong Senanarong said that ZEN would list and start trading on SET in the Agro & Food industry group, Food & Beverage sector. ZEN is a holding company investing in restaurant, franchise and related businesses such as food delivery, catering, restaurant management and consultancy as well as food retail business (e.g. ready-to-cook and ready-to-eat products).
Zen currently operates 12 brands, six Japanese and six Thai. The Japanese restaurants consist of ZEN, Musha by ZEN, Sushi Cyu Carnival Yakiniku, AKA, Tetsu and On the Table Tokyo Cafe. The Thai restaurants consist of Tummour, Laos Yuan, Jaew Hon, Pho, de Tummour, and Khiang.
ZEN has a registered paid-up capital of THB 300 million. It offered the 75 million newly issued shares via underwriters to the general public, institutional investors, patrons and employees of the company during February 7-8, and 11, 2019 at THB 13.00 each, for a total of THB 975 million. Kasikorn Securities pcl is its financial advisor and lead underwriter.
ZEN Chief Executive Officer Boonyong Tansakul said this listing would strengthen the company's capabilities and support the group's expansion to ultimately become a leader in food service business, covering various restaurant brands catering to all segments of consumers, as well as the franchise business which can enable the group to expand branches extensively. In addition, other related businesses also help the company to create competitiveness and differentiation. This will reinforce the company's performance towards sustainability.
ZEN's three major shareholders after the IPO are Mr. Sakkanon Chirathivat and Ms. Jomkwan Chirathivat Group (66.92 percent), Mr. Siruwat Chatchawan (3.00 percent) and Central Pattana pcl (1.88 percent). The IPO price was set by a book building process, equivalent to price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 27.60 times calculated by using the company's net profit in the past four quarters (Q4/2017 – Q3/2018), divided by fully diluted shares, representing earnings per share of THB 0.50. ZEN's dividend policy is to pay no less than 50 percent of net profit from the company's separate financial statements after corporate income tax and legal reserves.
For more information, please see the company's prospectus at the Securities and Exchange Commission's website at www.sec.or.th ; and for general information, please visit www.zengroup.co.th , as well as www.set.or.th.