New twist in Picnic tale

New twist in Picnic tale

Two groups feud over AMC ownership

Just as new investors were preparing to take over Picnic Corp Plc, a new dispute has emerged over the ownership of Asset Million, a former subsidiary of the heavily indebted cooking gas company.

One party to the dispute is led by the wife of the new deputy transport minister, Pol Lt Gen Chatt Kuldiloke, Wimolrat Kuldiloke and claims ownership of Asset Million (AMC). The other group is represented by Tanongsak Sritongkam and is also claiming ownership.
Picnic founded Asset Million originally to buy shares in the distributor World Gas, but AMC was later acquired by the group led by Mrs Wimolrat.
World Gas was wholly owned by Picnic but was transferred to AMC before Picnic entered restructuring in 2008.
According to a source familiar with the case, the Wimolrat group is the only legitimate shareholder in AMC. The Tanongsak group's holdings remain unclear but it controls the management.
Tanongsak Sritongkam, also the managing director of AMC, said the dispute was not settled as the Civil Court had yet to rule on who owns AMC.
"There is a misunderstanding about the ruling of the Civil Court earlier," AMC said in a statement released yesterday. "People perceived that
[the Wimolrat group] was declared the owner of AMC, but that is not a fact. The court ruled only to dismiss the previous AMC shareholders' meeting resolution."
Mr Tanongsak declined to elaborate or indicate whether he had evidence showing his group's ownership.
He did say that AMC currently held only 33% of World Gas, reflecting the dilution effect of an increase in AMC's registered capital last year to 2.4 billion baht from 800 million.
World Gas is the country's second-largest cooking gas distributor behind PTT, with a 19% market share, and total assets of around 6 billion baht.
Mr Tanongsak is one of 12 people, including Mr Suriya, accused by the Securities and Exchange Commission of fraud in connection with transactions related to Picnic.
The SEC said in 2009 that Picnic had retained Silom Planner as an adviser on debt restructuring and established Asset Million to purchase debt obligations at a discount, with illegal transactions between Picnic and AMC. Among those named were Sontaya Noicharoen, Thamnoon Tonglue, ML Chaipatr Chayangkul, Mr Suriya and Mr Tanongsak.
The SEC also accused Mr Suriya and his allies of embezzling Picnic Corp assets, including shares of World Gas.
The Suriya group subsequently sold shares in AMC to the group led by Mrs Wimolrat and other unidentified investors. However, the former group, now headed by Mr Tanongsak, continued to run the company, prompting the Wimolrat group to sue.
According to the SEC, Picnic in 2008 told the SET that it had transferred its 100% holding in World Gas to an unidentified creditor prior to entering business rehabilitation. When the SEC investigated the claim further, it concluded that fraud may have occurred.
The SEC alleged that Mr Suriya and three other Picnic directors _ Suthep Akkawuttikrai, Panuwan Leswiset and Sasitorn Wuttirungrueansakul _ had colluded with Asset Million and its directors Luckana Sawangha and Wandee Thocharoen to defraud the company.
The SEC considers World Gas an asset of Picnic. It has ordered AMC, as the owner of World Gas, to either compensate for losses from a loan pledged against World Gas shares with a larger amount than that of the loan, or return all shares of World Gas to Picnic.
The new investors who agreed to take on 85% of debt-ridden Picnic include Wichai Thongtang, the chairman of the hospital operator Prasit Pattana.
The new investors are represented by Ploenchit Capital. Its managing director, MR Sasiprin Chandratat, said the first priority after Picnic exits rehabilitation, would be to follow the SEC order.
She said Picnic was ready to negotiate with shareholders of AMC to resolve the matter.