Mr. Sakkarin Ruamrangsri, Senior Vice President of The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) revealed that there were queries about Mr. Prachai Leophairatana's no longer being qualified to be an executive in Thai Petrochemical Industry Pcl. (TPI) and TPI Polene Pcl. (TPIPL).
The SET would like to clarify that although both TPI and TPIPL are undergoing rehabilitation going through the bankruptcy court process, both firms still have to conform to SET rules to maintain their listed company status. The SET's listing rule requires that a listed firm not have an "unqualified executive" as defined in a SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) announcement. Thus, Mr. Prachai is not entitled to serve as an executive of either TPI or TPIPL. Accordingly, the companies should act to maintain their listed status.
Mr. Sakkarin said: "TPI's plan administrator tried to bring the qualifications of the firm's executives into compliance with the SEC requirements by petitioning the Central Bankruptcy Court to have Mr. Prachai removed as an executive. However, the court resolved that the company could not do so. TPI's plan administrator then notified the SET that TPI executives could be changed only after the company completed its rehabilitation plan. The Central Bankruptcy Court's hearing on the request to terminate TPI's business reorganization will take place on April 26, 2006. The SET will thus wait for the court order before taking any further actions."
For TPIPL, though the company's under rehabilitation similar to TPI, its plan administrator is also the management. Therefore TPIPL's directors should have been able to take action on Mr. Prachai's status, e.g., discussing the matter with him. The deadline for TPIPL to remove the disqualified director was January 11, 2006. However, no action was taken.
"Thus the SET urges TPIPL directors to show that the company abides by the rules, help establish a good governance culture, and maintain its reliability and trust, hence preventing damage to shareholders," Mr. Sakkarin said.