The contract-signings were conducted at the 10th Saha Group Export and Trade Exhibition, being held at the Queen Sirikit National Convention Centre. The deals advance Saha's strategy of branching out from its close ties with Japanese companies.

The Saha Group operates more than 300 subsidiaries, including 150 joint ventures with foreign partners. Over 50 per cent of those joint ventures are with Japanese partners.

The new businesses range from a local distributorship for IT products and accessories to a joint venture for a service centre for car accessories and the local distributorship for trainers - sneakers in the US - and jazz and ballet shoes.

Among the signings is the distributorship deal with Lenovo, the giant manufacturer of high-quality IT products from China.

Lenovo acquired IBM's worldwide desktop and PC businesses in 2005, making the company one of the largest suppliers for IT products and accessories in the world.

Under the deal, ICC International Plc, a Saha Group subsidiary, has been appointed by Lenovo as their authorised distributor for advanced

information-technology

products under the Lenovo brand in Thailand, Cambodia and Laos.

Thammarat Chokewattana, director of ICC International Plc, said that information technology had become very much involved in almost all aspects of everyday life and was in fact expanding to reach a broad spectrum of consumer groups.

"At ICC we think IT products will become increasingly important for and very much in demand by Thai consumers in the near future," said Thammarat.

He said that ICC would distribute four flagship products from Lenovo: electronic memory flash drives, MP3 players, high-resolution 8-megapixel digital cameras and high-performance Web cameras.

"We expect to distribute Lenovo products through more than 100 IT stores as well as other channels, such as TV shopping, in the first year. We expect to achieve Bt200 million in sales of Lenovo products over the next 12 months and to become one of the country's leading IT providers in the near future," said Thammarat, adding that the company would also allocate between Bt70 million and Bt100 million to promoting the Lenovo brand in Thailand in the first year.

Beside IT products, Saha Group has also become a major partner of Autobacs (Thailand) Co Ltd, which operates two car service centres, on Narathiwat and Srinakarin roads in Bangkok.

Autobacs managing director Sudket Chanchalia said that under the joint-venture deal signed yesterday two Saha Group major subsidiaries - ICC International and Sahapat Inter Holding - would take 20-per-cent ownership of the new Siam Autobacs Co Ltd.

"The arrival of Saha Group as a new major shareholder at Siam Autobacs followed the departure of two shareholders from the company - TOA Group and CPE Co Ltd," said Sudket. Other shareholders in the new structure include Banzai Co Ltd and Siam Ogamura Co Ltd.

Boonsithi Chokwatana, chairman of the Saha Group, said that the group had several affiliations in the automobile business, including Saha Seiren for the production of air-bag systems, Dome Composite to manufacture carbon automobile parts, Thai Cubic Technology for printing services on auto parts and Molten Asia Polymer Products for other automobile parts.

"We have seen that Thailand has enjoyed a boom in the auto industry, with more than a million vehicles a year being locally produced for the domestic market and export," said Boonsithi. He added that the Autobacs centre would provide car accessories, including mag wheels, car batteries, car radios and navigation system.

Saha Group's footwear subsidiary, Bangkok Rubber Saharatana Co Ltd, yesterday also signed a deal with Ballet Makers (USA) to distribute its Capezio dancing shoes including trainers and ballet, jazz and other dance shoes, along with dresses.

The first Capezio showroom has already opened at Siam Square, opposite the Mah Boon Krong Centre.

Kwanchai Rungfapaisarn

The Nation