The Bt15 billion will serve as part of the registered capital for the JV, which will be set up in Thailand in the third quarter.
CK will be the major shareholder, while local and foreign partners will be found soon, said managing director Plew Trivisvavet.
He called the Xayaburi project the largest in the company's 38-year history. It will have a capacity of 1,260 megawatts and generate 7,200 gigawatts of electricity a year.
Plew said construction of the Nam Bak plant in neighbouring Luang Prabang province might be delayed, because it would be small and generate less power than the Xayaburi plant, he said.
Construction of the Xayaburi project will cost Bt70 billion and begin after it is registered in the third or fourth quarter, Plew said. It will take eight years to build, after which it will generate electricity for both Laos and Thailand, Plew said.
He said the Lao government had granted CK the hydropower concession for Xayaburi for 27 years, not including the construction period.
The company expects the project to break even within 10 years after construction is completed.
In addition to funding the Xayaburi project, CK must come up with working capital for further bidding on the new mass mass-transit electric-train lines. Last year through CKTC, its JV with Tokyu Construction, the company won the first contract for the Purple Line.
Money will be obtained by issuing 206.57 million new shares to existing shareholders and selling its own shares in subsidiary Thai Tap Water Supply (TTW).
The company expects to gain Bt1 billion from the new-share issue and more than Bt600 million the TTW shares.
