SME Bank targets 20 firms to join new trust fund this year
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THE SMALL and Medium Enterprise Development Bank of Thailand launched the SMEs Private Equity Trust Fund yesterday, with an initial four small and medium-sized enterprises selected to join the bank's joint-venture capital fund that had a Bt500 million bu
Finance Minister Sommai Phasee, who presided over the launch of the trust fund, has given the bank the task of increasing the number of SME participants to 20 by the end of the year.
Salinee Wangtal, SME Bank chairwoman, believes that target is possible if there are enough asset managers willing to “baby-sit” the funds.
Sommai is the head of the joint venture’s steering committee, the trustee is MFC Asset Management, and the trust managers are Advance Finance and MTR Asset Managers. The four companies are Coco Marvel (Thailand), Ireal Plus, Thai Rich Foods Group and Onebit Matter.
More asset managers sought
“The limit for the trust fund per SME operator is Bt30 million and one asset manager can only take care of around four or five SMEs,” she said. “So we need to find more asset managers that are willing to join if we are to increase to number of SME participants to 20, and I believe that we can do it.
“The SMEs that we have chosen to invest with us have strong foundations and high potential and they rely on both the domestic market and exports, so the current slowdown with domestic and global demand should have only a small impact on the chosen companies.”
Sommai said the Government Saving Bank was expected to offer a similar scheme in the near future.
