"From our estimates, as direct impacts, at least Bt200 billion in market capitalisation based on the initial public offering value would also be lost, more than Bt260 million of potential liquidity could disappear and brokers would lose Bt650 million in brokering fees from trading the stock," SET senior vice president Sethaput Suthiwart-Narueput said in a statement.

This, he said, would mean Thailand losing out on the chance to raise its investment weighting in the Morgan Stanley Capital Index (MSCI), the main investment benchmark for global fund managers, because Thai Beverage is a big-cap company.

Sethaput said that among the indirect effects of the Thai Beverage listing was a decrease in trading volume, which could be reduced by as much as Bt22 billion.

The study was conducted after Thai Beverage, the country's largest liquor and beer maker, announced plans to list on the SGX amid protests from social activists and religious sects.

Despite the plan for a dual

listing in Singapore and Thai-land, the Securities and Ex-change Commission said earlier that the company's share allocation here would be considered only after the government enforces the alcohol consumption law.

"Thai companies' overseas listings would trim down the companies' fund mobilisation costs and increase their recognition. But this would send a negative impact to the bourse," Sethaput said.

Thai companies can mobilise funds abroad through three methods - listing, dual listing, and the issuance of depository receipts.

Depository receipts are a negotiable financial instru-

ment issued by banks such as American institutions to represents a foreign company's publicly traded securities and depository receipt trades on the US stock exchange.

The SET statement said that depository receipts had been the most popular instrument for Thai companies to raise funds abroad, as seen by the fact that at least 80 local firms had issued such instruments, representing 15 per cent of the overall turnover of the Thai stock market's foreign board.