MahaNakhon, a uniquely designed mixed-use skyscraper, contains several assets of the proposed REIT.

SET-listed Pace Development Corporation Plc plans to sell the hotel, retail space and observation deck at the MahaNakhon skyscraper for more than 13 billion baht to a real estate investment trust (REIT) in the next few years.

The estimated values are 8 billion baht for the observation deck, 4 billion for the Bangkok Edition Hotel and 1.5 billion for the retail space dubbed Cube, said chief financial officer Natha Kittiaksorn.

Pace acquired the US gourmet food brand and assets including the supply chain and operations of 11 outlets in the US as well as its global business for US$140 million from Kansas-based Dean & DeLuca Holdings Inc in 2014.

It now has 52 branches of Dean & DeLuca, comprising 12 in the US, five in Thailand and 35 elsewhere, under a licensing contract that generated 2.2 billion baht in first-half revenue, accounting for 70% of the company's total revenue.

Plans call for adding 50 branches in the US next year at a cost of US$30 million, with financing from Siam Commercial Bank.

Pace wants 300 Dean & DeLuca branches operating worldwide in 2019. By 2020, the brand is forecast to generate 15 billion baht in revenue for the company.

"Our revenue base in the near future will mainly come from non-residential business at 70%," Ms Natha said. "We may consider setting up a conglomerate or moving to other sectors like food and drinks in which the price-to-earnings ratio is much higher than in the property sector."

By 2020, Pace expects to have 30 billion baht in overall revenue, including 15 billion from Dean & DeLuca, 10 billion from property development and 5 billion from the Bangkok Edition Hotel, Cube mall and observation deck at MahaNakhon.

In the first half of the year, Pace recorded consolidated revenue of 3.2 billion baht, more than double the year-ago figure of 1.56 billion baht. The company posted a net loss of 573 million baht, narrowing a year-earlier loss of 904 million.

Of total revenue in the first six months, 1 billion baht was from property development (including unit transfers at MahaNakhon), and the rest was from Dean & DeLuca. Income from retail space, the hotel and the observation deck will start in 2017.

In the fourth quarter of this year, Pace will launch a luxury condo project worth 2.8 billion baht on Narathiwat Ratchanakharin Road.

The high-rise building will house just 36 units, all of them duplexes sized from 400 square metres.

PACE shares closed yesterday on the Stock Exchange of Thailand at 3.66 baht, down two satang, in trade worth 15.4 million baht.