CASE STUDY
Thai Credit Bank
CATEGORY
Supply; Demand
Capital market tool
Exit Mobilisation; Anchoring
Geography
Thailand
LISTING EXCHANGE
Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET)
SECTOR
Banking; Nano and Microfinance for Small Businesses
DFI / DONOR INTERVENTION
USD 78.7 million comprising ADB (USD 40 million), IFC (USD 23.8 million), MOBILIST (USD 14.9 million)
TRANSACTION SIZE
USD 205 million (THB 7,370 million), IPO size
TRANSACTION YEAR
2024
Structure and Capital Market Tool
The MOBILIST programme, IFC, and ADB participated in the IPO as anchor investors, helping to strengthen investor confidence in the listing. E.SUN Commercial Bank Ltd., one of Taiwan's largest privately held banks, was also an anchor institutional investor and contributed THB 1.5 billion. Together, this combination of development finance and commercial institutional investors helped reinforce investor confidence in a first-of-its-kind IPO.
The IPO comprised both primary and secondary common shares listed on the SET Main Board. Of the 254,124,200 shares offered, 64,710,000 were newly issued shares that raised THB 1.88 billion in fresh capital for Thai Credit, while 189,420,000 existing shares were sold by OCA Investment Holdings I Pte. Ltd., an Olympus Capital Asia investment vehicle.
Through the MOBILIST programme, the UK's Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) invested approximately USD 14.9 million. ADB and IFC invested USD 40 million and USD 23.8 million, respectively. Together, the three development actors invested approximately USD 78.7 million at THB 29 per share, representing around 38% of the USD 205 million IPO. This signalled confidence in Thai Credit's differentiated banking model and reduced execution risk for other institutional and retail investors. Separately, E.SUN Commercial Bank invested THB 1.5 billion (4.23% shareholding) as a commercial institutional investor.
Listing on the SET gave Thai Credit permanent access to public equity capital while creating a liquid, publicly traded investment for existing and future shareholders. Unlike bilateral investments or private equity transactions, the public listing also created a transparent exit route for existing investors. The IPO simultaneously enabled an existing private equity investment vehicle counting DEG, the German DFI, as one of its limited partners, to sell down part of its holding through the public market.
Background and Market Context
Micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in Thailand account for 99.6% of registered businesses, and the overwhelming majority of employment, yet many continue to face significant barriers to accessing formal finance. These constraints are particularly acute for women-led businesses, which often lack sufficient collateral and face additional obstacles such as high borrowing costs and limited familiarity with loan application processes. As almost 60% of MSMEs are owned by women, they are disproportionately affected.
Thai Credit Bank Public Company Limited (Thai Credit) is a Thai-based commercial bank that launched its operations in 2007. Thai Credit occupies a distinctive position within Thailand's financial system as the only licensed bank in Thailand that focuses on providing loans to MSMEs and nano- and microfinance for small businesses, a historically underserved segment. In February 2024, Thai Credit's shares were listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) via an IPO supported by the UK government's MOBILIST programme, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) as anchor investors.
The listing was the first Thai commercial bank IPO in a decade and made Thai Credit the first listed financial institution in Thailand dedicated to serving MSMEs. The proceeds from the IPO were used to expand Thai Credit's lending to MSMEs in rural areas, which remain underserved by traditional banks. Thai Credit's focus on this market segment, including a significant physical branch network beyond urban areas, fosters financial inclusion and supports business and job creation among Thailand's unbanked population. Approximately 70% of Thai Credit's clients are women.
Development Impact
Thai Credit's successful IPO demonstrates how development finance actors can support public capital markets development through a demand-side intervention at the IPO stage. Anchor investments from MOBILIST, ADB and IFC provided credibility and a price-setting signal that, in turn, catalysed multiple investments from local institutional investors. Notably, Thai Life Insurance Pcl became one of Thai Credit's largest shareholders. As a consequence of the IPO, Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM), which manages the Norwegian Government Pension Fund and is the world's largest institutional investor, became an indirect shareholder. This outcome would have been structurally impossible prior to listing.
The listing also shows how an IPO can allow a private equity investment vehicle backed by a DFI to tap public capital markets to successfully exit an investment at the end of its investment horizon, freeing up scarce development finance capital for new investments and additional developmental impact. This, in turn, is a supply-side intervention.
Importantly, the listing sets a replicable precedent for DFIs holding similar assets, noting that MSME lending is a key development finance gap many DFIs have sought to address. Thai Credit's focus on the nano, micro, and MSME segments makes its listing on the SET unique from both a domestic and a regional perspective. Without access to data from comparable listed firms, investors cannot accurately anchor valuations, and prospective early-stage investors lack proof points demonstrating the ability to exit private equity positions via IPOs in similar opportunities.
Thai Credit's listing is expected to transmit valuable information to issuers and investors that can help facilitate future listings of similar firms serving MSMEs in other EMDEs. Company reports and financial disclosures to meet listing requirements will also provide investors with ongoing data and information, enabling them to evaluate and price actual risk rather than their perception of risk.
In the context of the PMC framework, this transaction is both a supply-side and a demand-side intervention. The anchor investments from the DFIs and the MOBILIST programme played a significant role in the success of Thai Credit's IPO. The supply-side element, with the IPO enabling DEG to exit its Thai Credit holdings and recycle its capital for other development efforts, is equally valuable.