Thailand's hospital operator Bangkok Dusit Medical Services last night priced a 10 billion baht (US$311 million) zero coupon convertible bond offering.

The baht-denominated but US dollar-settled CBs were priced at yield to put/maturity of 2%, fixed at the investor-friendly end of the marketed range between 1.5% and 2%.

The conversion price was set at 21.045 baht per share, representing a 15% premium over the stock's close of 18.3 baht on September 10. The conversion premium too represents the investor-friendly end of the initial range of 15 % to 20%.

The CBs have maturity of five years with an investor put at year three, and an issuer call option after 2.5 years subject to 130% hurdle.

Bankok Dusit plans to use the proceeds for general corporate purposes, including refinancing existing debt.

The company is the largest private hospital operator in Thailand in terms of patient services revenue and market capitalization. It has about US$2.45 billion in assets as of June 2014 and operates 32 hospitals in Thailand and two hospitals in Cambodia.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Credit Suisse, Phatra Securities and Siam Commercial Bank were the joint bookrunners and joint lead managers on the transaction.