Prachai Leophairatana ousted from TPI board

21-Jul-06

Prachai Leophairatana, the founder of Thai Petrochemical Industry(TPI), was ousted from the company's board on Thursday. Prachai had been fighting an eight-year battle to maintain control of the company that collapsed during the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis. Despite being disqualified by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) from sitting on the boards of listed firms after a 2004 probe into disclosure violations involving unit TPI Polene, Prachai continued to remain on the TPI board, forcing the company to put his removal to a shareholder vote. Over 90% shareholders voted in favour of a proposal to remove Prachai and the resolution has passed. Prachai and his family remain minority shareholders of TPI, and hold a majority stake in TPI Polene, Thailand's third-largest cement maker. The revamping of TPI, which operates Southeast Asia's biggest petrochemicals complex, had faced numerous delays as Prachai continued with a campaign that turned bitter against the government as well as creditors such as Bangkok Bank, Citigroup and Bank of America. He used the courts to impede restructuring moves by creditors such as Bangkok Bank, Citigroup and Bank of America. After government intervention in 2003, state-run PTT PCL took control of TPI late last year as part of the restructuring plan.