Egat 'first state unit to establish infrastructure fund'
The Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (Egat) will be the first state enterprise to set up an infrastructure fund, worth about Bt20 billion, on expectations of unit subscriptions early this year, according to the Securities and Exchange Commissi
SEC secretary-general Vorapol Socatiyanurak said Egat was just waiting for the legal process to be complete.
"The next is Airports of Thailand, which may raise more than Bt10 billion," he said.
Vorapol said this year was expected to see stock trading in foreign currencies, particularly the US dollar and Chinese yuan. The Stock Exchange of Thailand signed memoranda of understanding with China’s central bank late last year. However, all will depend on the Bank of Thailand’s readiness for the payment system.
Regarding the regulations on primary listings, Vorapol said China’s securities watchdog yesterday discussed with the SEC the listing of Chinese companies on the SET.
"Although discussion has been made with Chinese authorities on yuan collaboration, listing of Chinese companies in the SET may need more discussions. Those from CLMV may be the first to be listed in the SET because of high demand for sources of funds," he said, referring to Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam.
He said the SEC also planned to help turn Thailand into a "digital economy" with Internet crowd funding this year. The commission will supervise the central system linking business owners and investors to limit risk that may arise from fraud.
"The key to crowd funding is a large number of people contributing a low amount of funds per person. Each investor will be able to contribute no more than Bt50,000, to limit investment risk. "I believe crowd funding will be a key tool that could help Thailand upgrade from a manufacturing base to an economy that focuses on product value," Vorapol said.
Crowd funding is expected to help small and medium-sized enterprises or new businesses gain more access to funds. There are four types of return scenarios: investment with no expectation on returns, product returns, interest and repayment returns, and share ownership with dividends and capital gains.
Prapan Charoenprawat, president of the Market for Alternative Investment, said the stock exchange was ready to support these ideas for fund mobilisation, and if companies were able to grow in the future, the exchange would provide direction and knowledge for further fund-raising in the markets. Companies may take at least two years for listing.
"Those who are interested in investment may have to accept that there remain risks if businesses are not successful. And the supervising authority has to prevent the risk of deception," he said.
