KBank eager manage infrastruc

KBank expects the first three infrastructure funds to be listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand this year, each worth Bt2 billion to Bt3 billion, Krisada Lamsam, a senior executive vice president of the bank, said yesterday.

The first fund should be for a solar farm, he said. SPCG, Asean’s biggest developer of solar power plants, is expected to offer the fund to the public in the third quarter of the year.

SPCG plans to build 34 solar farms in Nakhon Ratchasima, Sakon Nakhon and Nakhon Phanom with a combined capacity of 240 megawatts. The Provincial Electricity Authority is the buyer of the electricity.

Infrastructure funds are modelled on property funds, Krisada said.

A corporation will set up a holding company to launch the fund and banks will serve as advisers and managers to earn fee income.

Corporate customers in the power industry are demanding an alternative to mobilise public funds to invest in infrastructure projects.

The infrastructure funds will offer incentives to attract investors to buy into the fund.

The corporations that will launch infrastructure funds must have positive cash flow, as the proceeds from the infrastructure fund were set to pay debt and expand business. Tarate Poshyananda, executive vice president of Bank of Ayudhya, said infrastructure funds would facilitate corporate customers mobilising funds from the capital market. Corporations are now shifting to raising funds via the capital market.

The bank hopes to boost its loan portfolio by cashing in on the construction boom for power projects in Thailand. The bank has Bt100 million of loans to the power industry in the pipeline. It plans to be the lead arranger for two to three projects.

KBank and Bank of Ayudhya yesterday joined in providing Bt1.52 billion in renewable energy loans to a joint venture of SPCG and Ratchaburi Electricity Generating Holding for three solar farms.

SPCG expects to start realising revenue from the three projects in the third quarter.