Local fund companies interested in Shin stock if price is right
Thai fund companies have shown interest in buying up shares in Shin Corp if Singapore's Temasek Holdings quotes a reasonable price.
Asoke Wongcha-um, senior executive vice president of Kasikorn Asset Management, yesterday expressed the company's readiness to buy up Shin stock if the offer price were reasonable and worth the investment. "We are acting on behalf of unit trustholders. If there is any growth potential, we are ready to invest in the company," he said. Temasek announced on Monday that it would unload shares in Shin to reduce its ownership to 49 per cent, in compliance with the Foreign Business Act. Kasikornbank CEO Banthoon Lamsam, meanwhile, denied news reports that the bank was in talks with Temasek on the possibility of buying up Shin shares from the Singapore government's investment arm. He said his bank had not entered into any deal with Temasek, while it is the bank's policy not to invest in stock. "We already have the lesson from the 1997 financial crisis," he said. However, Banthoon said it was possible for the bank's subsidiary Kasikorn Asset Management to invest in Shin, but he said the company should not throw a lot of money into the company. "Temasek buying into Shin Corp should be a case study for all of us to learn from as such a huge investment in Thailand is quite rare. With such a big investment, several factors would be involved," he added. Maris Tarab, managing director of ING Asset Management, as chairman of the Association of Asset Management Companies, said that if Temasek were unloading its stake in Shin, those buying the shares should be Thai investors so that Shin's foreign ownership would be kept below 49 per cent. Still, major investors would be interested in the shares only when the price is attractive. They also need to evaluate the value of Shin's subsidiaries. "ING is also open for the opportunity and our main focus is on the offer price. This is because the mobile-phone business will grow quite slowly due to high competition. New technology such as 3G also needs a huge investment," he said. Chatrapee Tantixalerm, executive chairman of Ayudhya Asset Management, said yesterday that Shin Corp as well as stock of the Shin group were not investment targets for his company. However, if there were any approach, his company would have to consider the stock in terms of its potential return compared to other stocks. Shin Corp shares ended Bt0.25 higher to close at Bt35 yesterday. The shares of its subsidiary Advanced Info Service also rose, by Bt2 to Bt93. The Nation
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