Thai Preuksa sees Oct bond coupon near loan rates

BANGKOK, Sept 22 (Reuters) - Thai developer Preuksa Real Estate (PS.BK) said on Monday it expected to set the coupon on an issue of three-year bonds worth up to 1.5 billion baht ($44 million) at close to its bank loan rates of 5.2-5.3 percent .

The company would sell the bonds worth 1 billion baht in October as planned and would have a greenshoe option of 500 million baht to respond to strong demand, Chief Financial Officer Somboon Wasinchutchawal told Reuters.

"We will sell the bonds in October as planned. The presentation to institutional investors will be on Sept. 25," he said.

"Initially, the bond coupon rate should not exceed our average loan rate because our company rating is A-, showing a low risk with secured return," Somboon said, refering to its rating by Thailand's Tris Rating.

The bonds are underwritten by Kasikornbank KBAN.BK.

Eightly percent of the bonds would be offered to institutional investors via book building scheduled for the second and the third week of October, he said. The remaining bonds would be sold to retail investors.

The company would use 700-800 million baht of the bond proceeds for debt repayment and would use the rest for housing project expansion, he said.

Its outstanding debt at the end of June was 1.8-1.9 billion baht, he said.

Shares in Preuksa, valued at $485 million on the Thai bourse, ended down 1.99 percent at 7.40 baht on Monday, when the main Thai stock index .SETI was down 1.65 percent. ($1=33.92 Baht) (Reporting by Saranya Suksomkij; Writing by Viparat Jantraprap; Editing by Alan Raybould)