WHA Group’s Vision for 2016 and Beyond

An integrated business model based on four strategic business hubs to enhance the Group’s future growth

Bangkok, March 3, 2016 – Following excellent business and financial performance in 2015, WHA Corporation Pcl has revealed its business outlook for 2016 and beyond, showing healthy growth prospects in its four business hubs: Logistics, Digital, Industrial, and Utilities & Power.

WHA also announced the final step of its acquisition and merger with Hemaraj Land And Development Plc. Following its last tender offer for the remaining 7.12% shares, WHA Corporation Pcl is now holding 98.54% of Hemaraj’s shares. Hemaraj was effectively delisted from the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) on March 2, marking the end of the acquisition process that started in late 2014. This results in the creation of a fully-consolidated entity with a 2015 revenue of THB 12,064.1 million and a net profit of THB 1,953.7 million.

Dr. Somyos Anantaprayoon, Chairman of the Board of Directors and Chairman of the Executive Committee of WHA Corporation Pcl, and Ms Jareeporn Jarukornsakul, Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors, Vice Chairman of the Executive Committee and WHA Group Chief Executive Officer, shared their vision and objective to become the biggest comprehensive industrial hub in the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC).

In order to integrate the activities of WHA Corporation and Hemaraj into a single entity, a new organization structure and management team were introduced, reflecting the continuity of both companies’ existing operations in Logistics, Industrial Estates and Utilities & Power, plus the addition of a Digital hub to grab new business opportunities.

“This new organization into four business hubs is designed to result in additional services and products for our customers,” explained Dr. Somyos Anantaprayoon and Ms. Jareeporn Jarukornsakul. “It will enable us to leverage on a dominant market share, a larger customer base and the possibility to propose a broader scope of industrial solutions.”

No 1 Built-to-Suit Logistics Facilities Developer

As the initial designer in Thailand of the Built-to-Suit concept in logistics, WHA’s objective is to continue to innovate in this industry, focusing on the development of high-quality warehouses, distribution centers and factories in key prime locations around Bangkok, the Eastern Seaboard and upcountry. Everywhere, WHA intends to offer a “Total Solution Package” to answer the needs of its local and international customers, helping the customers optimize their long-term logistics costs. With our proven track record, WHA continues to benefit from a strong customer base in the Consumer product and Healthcare industry, as well as in third party Logistics (3PLs), which are growing sectors in Thailand.

Following the acquisition of Hemaraj’s assets and subsequent synergies through customers’ cross referral, further horizontal integration with Hemaraj’s Ready Built factories and warehouses will be implemented which enables us to expand customer base to export and manufacturing oriented sector and capture larger market share in rental properties in Thailand . In addition, with fully integrated business model, WHA foresees significant potential growth for Built-to-Suit factories, for instance in high value-added sectors like the automotive industry, and for sophisticated Built-to-Suit products such as cold storage, multi-temperature and E-Commerce distribution centers.

Furthermore, we will leverage on synergies with Hemaraj and poised to benefit from infrastructure upgrades in the Eastern Seaboard area and surrounding provinces i.e. Chonburi and Rayong as well as the seamless multi-modal transportation mode including roads, railways and ports, in order to facilitate not only the development of industrial but also logistics cluster for continuous growth

These developments will not only take place at the group’s industrial estates and logistics parks in Thailand, but also in other ASEAN countries like Indonesia and Vietnam.

“To maintain our No 1 position in Logistics, we will constantly modernize our facilities and provide more sophisticated and high-value products” said Ms Jareeporn Jarukornsakul.

WHA Group’s current customers in logistics •and industrial properties include Thai and foreign multinational corporations from all origins: Asia, especially from Japan, Europe and the USA. At the end of 2015, the group controlled approximately 2.0 million square meters in Built-to-Suit logistics facilities, Ready Built Factories and Warehouses. Within the next 3-4 years, this figure is expected to reach over 3 million square meters.

Digital Economy and Big Data, Today’s “New Oil”

A fast-growing sector in line with the Thai government’s policies, Digital Economy is the latest sector where WHA foresees an important potential for development and growth. Within the next three years, Asia will account for more than half of Internet users worldwide. With the development of E-Commerce, the Internet of Things and the growing prominence of “Big Data”, the demand for Data Centers will significantly increase.

WHA Group wants to play a leading role in this evolution by positioning itself as a One-Stop service for Digital Infrastructure, ranging from Data Center comprehensive services & solutions. With an aim to provide high quality data centers, this will enable WHA to differentiate itself from its competitors, as the group can benefit from its existing industrial and logistics customer base with multinational corporations as well as local Thai groups. WHA Group has strong business partnerships with leading infrastructure and technology providers in areas like Infrastructure to operate data center, Fiber Optic and Mobile networks. Thus, this makes WHA an active player in digital platforms.

Hemaraj’s Industrial Estates will be transformed into “Smart Districts”, with the most advanced infrastructure in IT and telecommunications made available to its customers.

“Nowadays, data is considered as the “new oil” and we plan to play a key role in the development of the digital economy” asserted Ms. Jareeporn Jarukornsakul. “We will provide World Class IT and telecom infrastructure, develop comprehensive data solutions and platforms to empower our industrial estate customers, both local and multinational companies,” she said.

Thailand’s No 1 Industrial Estate Developer with Largest Market Share Since 2008

Reflecting synergies with Hemaraj, WHA comprises 8 industrial estates under operation and 3 under development, all in strategic locations and representing 45,198 rai of land (18,079 acres or 7,232 hectares), allowing the Group to hold the No 1 position since 2008 with approximately 31% market share. Within the last 8 years, land sales represented 10,059 rai (3,977 acres or 1,609 hectares). Last year only, land sales by Hemaraj amounted to 1,043 rai, with a total of 28 contracts (22 new customers and 6 project expansions from existing customers).

Hemaraj currently counts 668 distinct customers through 1,003 land or factory contracts, including 233 automotive customers. The group’s automotive clusters comprise several international brands such as Ford, Mazda, GM, Suzuki, SAIC/CP, with automotive suppliers that include 32 of the world’s top 100 global OEM parts suppliers. Last year, automotive exports from Hemaraj’s automotive clusters represented 15.05% of Thailand’s total exports.

“We are determined to maintain our No 1 rank in land sales and to facilitate the development of strategic industrial clusters” said David Nardone, Group Executive Industrial and International. “Aside from the automotive industry, for which we have played a leading role within the past 15 years, we plan to develop other clusters in consumer products, petrochemical, electronics and other export industries,” he added.

The automotive industry represents 35% of the Group’s customers, followed by Consumer Products (14%), Petrochemical (9%), Steel & Metal (9%), Building Materials (7%) and Electronics (7%).

In terms of customers’ by country origins, Japan comes first with 38%, followed by Thailand (19%), Europe (11%) and the USA (9%). With 3%, China is still a relatively small percentage but it is growing fast with an increasing number of Chinese investors. Altogether, this represents an estimated total investment of more than USD 26 billion.

“Hemaraj’s solid 27-year experience in the development of industrial estates will be very beneficial to grow our portfolio of customers and penetrate into new markets in neighboring countries, starting with Indonesia and Vietnam through specialized-themed industrial estates, and eventually in Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam” declared David Nardone.

Active Power Investor and Exclusive Utilities Provider

WHA Group is involved in 13 Power projects that represent a total capacity of 2,537 megawatts (MW). Six are under operation (1,655 MW) and 7 SPP projects under development (882 MW). These projects are run through joint-venture partnerships with leading local and international corporations such as Glow Energy, Gulf Power, and B. Grimm. WHA is also developing waste-to-energy, wind and solar power projects.

Utilities provide raw water, potable water and clarified water (Total Annual Capacity over 100 million cubic meter), as well as wastewater treatment (Total Annual Capacity over 54 million cubic meter) and maintenance services to industrial estate customers like power plants, steel mills, automotive and petrochemical industries.

These activities not only enable WHA and Hemaraj’s Industrial Estates customers to run their operations with maximum security, they also represent a significant percentage of WHA’s revenue in the form of high-margin recurring income, through dividends and profit sharing.

“Power generation and Utilities are a natural complement of our group’s industrial estates,” explained David Nardone. “In Power, we will seek to be more proactive in conventional energy with our partners, while developing renewable energies and looking for new opportunities abroad. In Utilities, we also plan to diversify our activities through natural gas distribution and telecom fiber optics, both inside and outside our industrial estates,” he said.

About WHA Group

Established in 2003, the WHA Group’s vision is to provide its local and international customers with warehousing, distribution center and factory solutions to enable them to operate at full efficiency. The WHA Group has positioned itself as the leading and the largest built-to-suit distribution center, warehouse and factory developer in Thailand’s highly competitive industrial and logistics property market.

Following its acquisition of Hemaraj Land And Development Plc. on 17 March 2015, WHA Group is now the leading developer in Thailand of Industrial Estates, an active player in Power generation, an exclusive provider of Utilities services and a key promoter of Thailand’s digital economy.

For more information, please visit our website at www.wha.co.th or contact:
Khun Wandee Lerdsupongkit
WHA Corporation Public Relations
C/O Francom Asia
Tel: 02 233 4338 ext. 19
Fax: 02 236 8030
E-mail: pr@francomasia.com