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Published on February 4, 2008

Members of the three Krungsri-PrimaVest 3M Funds have had to wait for each three-month term to end before their money was rolled over. This incurred unnecessary costs, president Phuemphol Prasert-lum said last week. The consolidation will see administration costs cut by 10 per cent to 20 per cent, he added.

The company is awaiting Securities and Exchange Com-mission approval, due next month.

The new Krungsri-PrimaVest 3M Multi Class Fund will be Bt2 billion.

PrimaVest has its eyes on a foreign-investment fund that buys into commodities and natural resources, such as oil exploration and mining companies. Commodities, such as oil and soybeans, are much sought after because of rapid expansion in emerging markets such as China and India. However, their prices are volatile and subject to speculation.

Two other funds will invest in high-rated short- and long-term bonds issued by "stable" governments. PrimaVest hinted these might be in Australasia.

With the Federal Reserve having cut its indicator rate by a total of 225 basis points since last September "we must be careful about where to invest", Phuem-phol said. "So we can't say for sure which countries we will go to." The fund manager is negotiating with developers of serviced apartments and warehouses about a possible real-estate fund.

Phuemphol welcomed the Stock Exchange of Thailand's move to set up an energy-sector index, but is wary of risk as participation in the form of a sector fund is moot.

"Most of our customers' risk appetite is low," he said.

The fund has seen its personal private funds cut by 72 per cent to Bt100 million. It is looking to make this up by acquiring more institutional clients for private funds.

Last year, PrimaVest saw its net-asset value increase 33 per cent to Bt27 billion.

The Nation