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Published on February 14, 2008

While this is rather small compared to such giants as SCB Asset Management or Kasikorn Asset Management, Asset Plus manager Ladawan Charoen-Rajapark said the company's assets under management last year rose by Bt7.6 billion, making it No 5 in the industry in terms of percentage growth last fiscal year.

The company is also the first among fund-management companies without backing from a giant bank as parent.

Asset Plus aims to increase its assets under management by Bt10 billion this year.

Although Asset Plus has limited distribution channels, with two main banks - Deutsch Bank and LH Bank - and a handful of brokerage firms selling its investment units, it has managed to increase its mutual-fund business by 56 per cent.

Its mutual-fund net asset value now stands at Bt18 billion, while its private funds' NAV reached Bt3.5 billion last year, a 33-per-cent growth rate.

Asset Plus has reported a net profit of Bt111 million for its last three years of operation.

Ladawan said that although the company functions more like a private bank, having started to offer private fund-management services in 2004, it would like to expand more aggressively in the retail mutual-fund business through investment products with tax benefits, namely long-term equity funds and retirement mutual funds.

Product innovation will become an even more important strategy for a small company like Asset Plus, said fund manager Vasu Suthip-hongchai.

 The company is among the first to introduce a credit-linked notes (CLN) fund - the Asset Plus' Premium 6M2 Fund - to replace its European commercial paper fund, which has been hard hit by the recent Fed rate cut and sub-prime mortgage crisis.

Vasu said that CLNs, although another derivative product that transfers the issuer's credit risk to investors, are very different from structured-note products.

He believes the Securities and Exchange Commission's strict guidelines for CLNs, only allowing firms to invest in governmental bonds with top ratings, will lend the product some stability.

The company also plans to launch a foreign investment fund every quarter. Ladawan said this year's main strategy would be one of diversification.

Notable themes are infrastructure, soft commodities, healthcare and alternative energy - all within emerging markets with burgeoning domestic consumption.

Ki Nan Tsui

The Nation