WHA reveals that its recent shareholding restructure, just a change from WHA HOLDING to “Jareeporn and daughter,” will not affect the management Confident the China recovery from COVID-19 will create a positive impact and drive land sales in H2 2020

Bangkok – Group CEO of WHA Group revealed that its recent shareholding restructure only involves the change of major shareholders from WHA HOLDING, whose shareholders were Jareeporn Jarukornsakul and Dr. Somyos Anantaprayoon, to “Jareeporn Jarukornsakul and daughter”. This will not affect the company’s management and business policy.

It strongly believes that the COVID-19 recovery in China will benefit the Asian economy. The coronavirus crisis in Thailand will subside before the middle of this year and industrial land sale is expected to pick up in the second half, as foreigners remain interested in investing in Thailand as a production base. WHA Group still maintains its land sale target at 1,400 rai in 2020, driven by rising demand of logistics business and growing sales from consumer, healthcare and E-Commerce sectors.

Ms. Jareeporn Jarukornsakul, Chairman and Group CEO of WHA Corporation Public Company Limited or WHA Group, notified the Stock Exchange of Thailand about the sale of shares by its major shareholder WHA HOLDING, whose shareholders were Jareeporn Jarukornsakul and Dr. Somyos Anantaprayoon, to “Jareeporn Jarukornsakul and daughter”. There was no sale of shares and transactions to other groups of people. The controlling power, the structure of the board of directors and the company’s executives will remain unchanged, thus not affecting the management and business policy.

For the change of major shareholders, 1,717,900,000 WHA Group shares held by WHA HOLDING were sold to Jareeporn Jarukornsakul, 769,569,252 shares to Chatchamol Anantaprayoon (Jareeporn’s daughter), 474,200,000 shares to Chaiwat Phupisut (nephew) and 474,200,000 shares to Supitchaya Phupisut (niece).

“This shareholding restructure is just the change of major shareholders from WHA HOLDING to Jareeporn, her daughter and family members who together still hold a 45.51% stake. The change will not affect the controlling power and business operations. The structure of management executives and board of directors will remain unchanged.”

The escalating spread of COVID-19 has an impact on the overall industrial estate business, making potential customers unable to travel and visit industrial areas during this period. Some customers have decided to delay the contract signing, but so far, none have cancelled their agreements. This shows the potential and strength of WHA Group’s industrial estates, which can effectively answer the demand from customers, both Thai and foreign.

Meanwhile, the company foresees that the COVID-19 crisis in Thailand will improve and subside in the second half of this year. This will create a positive impact on all industrial sectors for a quick rebound, including WHA Group’s industrial estates.

WHA Group is confident that its sales of industrial land will pick up and grow as its previous plan, with its land sale target for 2020 set at 1,400 rai, of which 1,200 rai will be from industrial estates in Thailand, and 200 rai in Vietnam.

“Once the COVID-19 pandemic in China is over, the crisis in mainland will end very soon. Statistics show that Chinese operators are resuming their productions by 70-80%, in line with the Chinese government policy, which will impose a series of stimulus measures to drive investment and the overall economy after the outbreak. This will create a positive impact for the supply chain of many countries whose raw materials are imported from China. The next step will be controllable by strict measures by China.”

For the logistics business, WHA Group’s major customers, including those from consumer, health care and E-Commerce businesses, get direct benefit from the spread of COVID-19, so they will have higher demand for warehouse and distribution centers. Therefore, WHA Group still maintains its target increase additional warehouse space by 200,000 sq. m in 2020, making total warehouse space to reach 2.6 million sq. m.

WHA Group forecasts that the utilities business will return to a normal situation in the second half of the year. With the investment in tap water business in Vietnam, the company will not revise a 34% growth of its water business in 2020 to 147 million cubic meters, up from the water sales and service of 110 million cubic meters last year. The power generation business plan will continue to grow by 6% to 591 Megawatts.