The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) is urging investors to exercise caution when trading SCBB, as the stock will be delisted from the secondary market on April 26.
On Tuesday, Siam Commercial Bank changed its stock market ticker symbol from SCB to SCBB, which will be available for trading until April 26, before the listing of new stocks under SCBx -- its holding company -- on April 27.
SCBx's new shares will have the ticker symbol SCB to prevent confusion among investors.
Siam Commercial Bank had previously undergone a major business restructuring and established SCBx Plc as a holding company of the bank and other related financial businesses.
SCBx has made a tender offer for all SCBB shares under the share swap plan, which was completed on April 18. SCBx is in the process of listing its new shares, and plans to delist SCBB on April 26.
Between April 11, the last day that investors were eligible to buy SCBB and exchange them for SCBx shares, and April 18, the SCBB price dropped by 30% to close at 80 baht.
Veeravat Virochpoka, an analyst at Finansia Syrus Securities, said that after the swap process ended on April 18, there were still 2.7 million outstanding SCBB shares.
After April 26, SCBB shares will be delisted and investors holding 2.7 million shares will not be able to trade the shares on SET, but remain entitled to receive dividends and trade the shares on the over-the-counter market.
The brokerage expects SCBx share prices to open in the range of 140-150 baht on April 27. This is a base price valuation excluding the company's prospective deal with Bitkub Online, a digital asset exchange, which is currently uncertain due to the Bank of Thailand's new rule banning commercial banks from investing more than 3% of their capital in digital asset businesses.
An analyst at Asia Plus Securities said that SCBB is now volatile and will affect the SET Index and SET50 Index during the period before April 26, as investors who bought SCBB after April 12 will not be eligible for the share swap, and the negative sentiment will continue to depress the share price and liquidity of SCBB.
SCBB is the largest stock on both the SET and SET50 Indexes, and when the share price declines, it causes the market to fluctuate, the analyst said.
The analyst said that if the SCBB price continues to decline while it is still available for trading on the SET, every 10-baht fall will cause the SET Index to drop by 3.4 points, or -0.2%, and cause the SET50 Index to drop by 3.3 points, or 0.33%.
SCBB's movement before it exits the market is one of the factors that will cause volatility in the overall market, especially the SET50 futures price, as SCBB is heavily weighted in the SET50 index, at almost 3%, said the analyst.
