By P.R. Venkat

Thai Beverage PCL plans to sell about a 20% stake by listing its beer business in Singapore, an offering that if successful could be the largest such deal in the city-state in many years.

The company said that it has received a 'no-objection' letter from the Singapore Exchange for a spin-off listing of BeerCo Ltd., Thai Bev said Friday.

Thai Bev, however, didn't disclose the size of the potential offering.

Owned by one of Thailand's richest men, Thai Bev had in late 2019 said that it was exploring an initial public offering of its beer business in Singapore. The company was seeking to raise over US$1 billion in the first half of 2020, people with knowledge of the process told The Wall Street Journal at the time.

The IPO was, however, delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic that hurt consumer and business sentiment worldwide.

ThaiBev owns Thailand's Chang beer brand, as well as a majority stake in Vietnam brewer Saigon Beer Alcohol Beverage Corp., known as Sabeco.

"As a separately-listed entity, BeerCo will have direct access to debt and equity capital markets and be able to independently leverage on a wider range of funding options to finance its existing operations as well as its future business expansion plans," Thai Bev said.

Write to P.R. Venkat at venkat.pr@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

02-04-21 1817ET