Thai Asset Management (TAMC) plans to speed up the sale of its assets as time for the state-owned asset management operation begins to run short.
It will be closed down in 16 months, its executives said yesterday.
"It's a challenge for us to restructure debts and sell the remaining assets before the organisation is dissolved in accordance with the law," said president Churairat Panyarachun.
TAMC was established by the government following the 1997 financial crisis to clean up bad loans from both state-owned and commercial banks. It will be dissolved by June 2011.
The corporation's remaining assets are estimated to be worth Bt170 billion. Of these, unrestructured debts are valued at about Bt50 billion, while the rest are non-performing assets (NPAs), Churairat said.
She urged debtors to negotiate for debt restructuring.
"We'll offer discount rates according to the ability of debtors to make payments, but they must declare their income and expenses" she said.
Churairat conceded it would be tough to sell the remaining distressed assets this year, because attractive land plots or buildings had already been sold. A large proportion of remaining land plots are in remote areas far from business centres in Bangkok or other big cities. However, there are some pieces of land in prime areas, such as Pattanakarn Road, Rangsit and Muang Thong Thani, she said.
TAMC expects to collect Bt13.8 billion in debt payments this year, as well as Bt7.4 billion from the sale of NPAs. In its final six months next year, the corporation plans to collect Bt8.73 billion in payments from debtors and sell Bt2.7 billion worth of NPAs.
Remaining assets will then be sold to Bangkok Commercial Asset Management or Sukhumvit Asset Management, Churairat said.
"We want to transfer both assets and TAMC staff to new asset-management firms," she said.
Executive vice president Chaovarat Chaochavanil said he expected land prices to increase this year in line with the economic recovery.
The corporation's operating income jumped to Bt27.49 billion last year, or 156 per cent of its target, Churairat said. This consisted of Bt16.3 billion from debt restructuring and Bt11.19 billion from NPA sales.
As of the end of last year, after eight years of operation TAMC had Bt122.8 billion worth of restructured debts involving 3,555 debtors and sold Bt51.66 billion worth of NPAs, she said.
