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Thailand: About 5,000 people, including 500 Buddhist monks in saffron robes, gathered in front of Thailand's stock exchange on Wednesday, March 23 to celebrate their success in blocking the listing of the beer company, Thai Beverages, Associated Press communicated. Thai Beverages is owned by Charoen Sirivadhanbhakdi who was named by 'Forbes' magazine as this year's richest man in Thailand.

The Stock Exchange of Thailand announced on Monday that it postponed indefinitely a decision on whether to allow the listing of Thai Beverage PCL, the country's largest beer and liquor maker. The action came after strong opposition to the listing from various social groups on the ground that promoting alcohol consumption is against Buddhist, Islamic and Thai beliefs. "We will not make a decision under the pressures of any parties," Kittiratt Na-Ranong, president of the Stock Exchange of Thailand, told reporters. The bourse had been expected to make a decision on the matter on Wednesday.

Last Friday, March 18, about 2,000 monks from the Thai Buddhist Monks National Coordination Center gathered outside the exchange to protest the proposed listing of the company, which brews top-selling Beer Chang, or "Elephant Beer." In a statement, they denounced the listing as "a grave threat to the health and culture" of the predominantly Thai Buddhist society, "which could be harmed by the proliferation of the liquor business." "It is one of the duties of a Buddhist monk to promote good morality to the world. We have poured away liquor and burned cigarettes in our protests before," monk Phra Kittyano Bhikku told reporters at the protest.

Organizers of the anti-listing campaign, who claimed the backing of 128 anti-alcohol groups from all over the country, said they gathered Wednesday "to express gratitude to the board of the Thai Stock Exchange."

Cheap and potent, Beer Chang is especially popular with rural drinkers. The beer company, owned by liquor tycoon Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi, hoped to raise up to 40 billion baht (US$1.04 billion; €790 million) through its initial public offering, which would have been the biggest in the Thai market's history.

Charoen, a strong political and financial supporter of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, intends to sell one-third of Thai Beverages' shares to the public, raising up to one billion U.S. dollars in what could be the biggest listing in the history of the Thai stock exchange.

Beer Chang, Thai Beverages' flagship, was launched in cooperation with Carlsberg Breweries of Denmark in 1996 and was awarded a gold medal at the Australian International Beer Awards in 1998. It now controls about 80 percent of Thailand's 2.1 billion U.S. dollar domestic beer market, edging out Singha Beer that used to be the country's top selling brand.

Thai Beverages in a statement said its priority was to list on the Thai stock exchange, even though other markets, such as London, Singapore and Hong Kong have courted it. Stock exchange authorities are keen to list Thai Beverages because they feel it would add to the size of the Thai market, making it more attractive to local and international investors. "If Thai Beverages were listed it could be useful to the market and to the Thai economy because the firm would become stronger and be in a position to raise money to reduce debt," Kittirat Na Ranong, president of the Stock Exchange of Thailand, told a business seminar over the weekend.

But the strong anti-listing sentiment among Thailand's conservatives and anti-alcohol advocates could see stock exchange officials delaying their decision just to buy more time - especially when there is increasing concern about the drinking habits of fun-loving Thais and the rise in teenage alcoholism. According to the Stop Drinking Alcohol Network, a group advocating tighter restrictions on alcohol sales, the average Thai drinks 14 liters of pure alcohol a year, higher than anywhere in Asia. Also, alcohol consumption among female teenagers increased by 600 percent between 1996 and 2003.

Duenden Nikhomborirak, a medical doctor with the Thailand Development Research Institute, said that the stock exchange listing would strengthen the beer giant making alcohol sales more difficult to control. "While large amounts of alcohol are still being sold to young people, and while law enforcement remains poor, we should not allow alcoholic products to be listed on the stock exchange", said Duenden. "We first need to build up mechanisms which help reduce the consumption of alcohol," she added. Currently, sales of alcohol are banned in retail outlets, including supermarkets, between 9am and 11am and from 2pm to 5pm.

"Millions of Thai children and women suffer at the hands of drunks everyday," said the Thai Women Leaders for Community Development in a statement. The group also condemned the planned listing of Thai Beverages as an act of pursuing economic goals without regard for the country's social and cultural interests.


23 March, 2005