Thai Oil to sell 3 bln baht bonds in late May

BANGKOK, May 16 (Reuters) - Thai Oil TOP.BK, Thailand's biggest refiner, would sell up to 3 billion baht ($93 million) of 4-year bonds later this month to finance business expansion, fund managers said on Friday.

The unsecured bonds were rated "AA-(tha)" by Thailand's Fitch Ratings and would be offered to institutional investors, three fund managers close to the deal told Reuters.

"The coupon rate of the bonds will be priced after a book building date on May 29. It should be carried more than 50 basis points over comparable government bonds," one of the fund managers said after the bond's roadshow.

The Thai unit of HSBC (HSBA.L: Quote, Profile, Research) is the issue's underwriter.

Thai Oil said earlier it planned to sell $500 million of bonds to repay loans and expand its business.

Like other firms, Thai Oil has rushed to issue bonds to lock in low costs before domestic interest rates edge higher. For details, click on [ID:nBKK271778]

Its shares closed up 2.2 percent at 70 baht on Friday, when the main Thai index .SETI was 1.72 percent higher. ($1=32.34 Baht) (Reporting by Arada Therdthammakun; Editing by Jerry Norton)