Thailand's state controlled energy giant PTT, along with three other state entities - the Government Savings Bank, the Government Pension Fund and Vayupak Fund-One have bought an additional 30% stake in TPI for US$450 mln. This clears the biggest hurdle for Thai Petrochemical Industry Plc to finally emerge from rehabilitation after years under court control. The acquisition process has been repeatedly stalled by court petitions from TPI founder Prachai Leophairatana, who sought to abort the deal.
As per an agreement, PTT will now have a controlling interest in TPI and will begin integrating TPI's operations into its own once the company is out of court-supervised rehabilitation. Upon completion of the deal, TPI will be able to emerge from insolvency with about US$1 billion in debt.
In the early 1990s, TPI borrowed heavily in foreign currencies to fund expansion plans to make it the region's first fully integrated petrochemicals company. The company became one of Asia's largest corporate debtors, defaulting on more than US$4 billion in loans, in the wake of the Asian economic crisis and the devaluation of the baht. After it was declared insolvent in 2000, court-appointed plan administrators evaluated a number of restructuring plans to get the company back on track.
15-Dec-05 
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