Asset firm tempts with home discounts
BANGKOK Commercial Asset Management Public Company (BAM) says it will offer discounts of as much as 30 per cent on homes that it is putting up for sale after the properties had been seized from distressed debtors.
The announcement of the discounts of 10-30 per cent on the homes during a sales campaign next month comes as the company says it plans to list on Stock Exchange of Thailand this year.
BAM executives yesterday said that to celebrate the company’s 20th year anniversary, it had selected 500 of the recovered properties – originally seized by lenders – and land nationwide for the discounts from May 10-29. Transaction fees will not be charged.
BAM chairman Tongurai Limpiti said the used homes – also known as resale properties - had been renovated and were in good condition.
Among the properties with the big price cuts are condominiums in the Juldis River Mansion with views of the Chao Phraya River, near Rama VIII Bridge. Studios offered in the complex are priced at just over Bt2 million. She said that the large supply of new condominium units in Bangkok had not hurt sales of used units.
“The new and resale home are different segments of the property market. Those who cannot afford to buy new condos due to their high prices can come to us,” she said.
In case of resale homes worth no more than Bt2 million, clients can pay instalments with BAM with a lower interest rate of MLR-3 per cent, or about 3.5 per cent annually in the first three years of the contract.
Bunyong Visatemongkolchai, a director of the company, said BAM offers debtors who restructure their debts with BAM to pay their debt based on 80 per cent of the appraisal price of their homes that are worth no more than Bt10 million. They could choose to pay off their debts in one go or by instalments of up to 20 years. BAM also supports small and medium-sized enterprise to get back their distress assets that are worth no more than Bt20 million by offering them 80 per cent payment of the total appraisal prices of the properties. BAM was established by a Cabinets resolution in the aftermath of 1997 Asian financial crisis in order to manage the large numbers of distressed assets.
Since its establishment in 1998, BAM has sold and restructured debts worth Bt215.7 billion. It has accumulated profits worth Bt53 billion and paid compensation of Bt69.2 billion to the Financial Institutions Development Fund - a financial arm of the central bank - that used Bt1.4 trillion in public funds to rescue many ailing financial institutions during the 1997 crisis. Asked about the company’s plan to list on the stock market, Tongurai declined to say when it would file for an application with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
However, an informed source said this would likely take place this year.
