President and chief executive officer Yeap Swee Chuan said that despite the currrent political situation, he had complete confidence in Thailand's economic growth, especially in the auto sector, which has been on the rise in the past few years.

Yeap said that with some good purchases and joint ventures with companies in Thai-land as well as in Singapore, China and India, Aapico would be able to produce more sophisticated and higher value-added auto parts.

"This will certainly enhance our product quality and competitiveness to penetrate more markets and car makers," he said in an interview in Malaysia.

Aapico, the first Malaysian firm to be listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand, is in the jigs, dies and original equipment manufacturing (OEM) industry, producing steel fuel tanks, pickup truck chassis frames, forging parts, as well as hard disk-drive case production and car navigation systems.

The company's latest acquisition was a 57-per-cent stake in KPN Automotive, which is in the forging, plastics, logistics and warehousing business.

The Narongdej family, which owns KPN, will retain the warehouse and logistics business under the deal.

"This acquisition is a friendly deal with the purpose of consolidating the two businesses together so as to reinforce Aapico's role as a dominant player in realising Thailand's goal to become the 'Detroit of Asia'," Yeap said.

He said KPN's forging and plastic parts businesses would enable Aapico to increase its product line, enabling it to offer customers a wider range of products.

"As we have already started our forging operations in Kunshan and Shanghai, we will utilise KPN's know-how and expertise in the forging business to further enhance our technicians' skills in China," he said.

Furthermore, Aapico and KPN share a similar customer base - such as Ford, Honda, Mazda and Toyota - and this will be good synergy, he added.

Yeap, who in 1979 founded his first business, a Mitsubishi and Proton dealership in Malaysia at age of 31 before venturing into Thailand in the late 1980s, expects the company's 2007 revenues to increase from about Bt8 billion to Bt11 billion following the acquisition of KPN Automotive.

In the middle of the year, Aapico established joint ventures with Japan's Mitsuke Corp and Katsuya International.

In its first business deal, Katsuya International signed a memorandum of understanding with Mother Sun, a fast-growing parts-maker in India, in a move to help it to hold in the burgeoning Indian car-parts market.

Aapico also invested 6.3 million Singaporean dollars (Bt147.6 million) for a 20-per-cent stake in Jackspeed Corp, a Singaporean car accessories specialist listed on the Stock Exchange of Singapore.

In 2003, Aapico acquired Parish Structural Products (Thailand) from US firm Dana Corp for Bt2.05 billion, which enabled it become the sole supplier of frame sets for Isuzu's one-tonne pickup trucks in the Kingdom.

Yeap said that besides contribution from the OEM business, Aapico also expected revenues from its new ventures - hard disk-drive case production and outsource relocation - in September.