Returning to the business world, Maris Tarab is confident he can lead Inter Far East Engineering (IFEC) - where he is a director and executive director - towards success in renewable-energy investment.
He said that with a personal interest in the field, he had spent some time observing developments in the alternative-energy industry. Sharing the same views on the sector as IFEC, which recently embarked on a solar-power project, he decided to join the company.
"When asked whether this is a challenge for a man from the investment-banking arena, I would say that it's a challenge for the entire Kingdom," he said.
"Many countries [and areas] are active in this area, like the European Union, which plans to raise renewable-energy consumption to 20 per cent of its total in the next 10 to 20 years. Thailand's ratio is much lower, but investment is tending to grow. This is a challenge for me, the company and the country."
Maris is a former managing director of ING Funds (Thailand). In August 2009, the Securities and Exchange Commission put him on three years' probation, as the company had failed to deliver returns to a property fund's investors.
Before ING Funds, for more than 20 years he had been an integral part of several finance and securities firms.
He joined IFEC on August 9 this year and was recently assigned to oversee the renewable-energy business. Chairman and president Narong Taychachaiwong is convinced that with Maris's extensive experience, the business will show huge growth.
Maris also believes the growth potential is enormous. With more than Bt400 million in capital and a low debt-to-equity ratio of 0.5 times, IFEC is capable of financing the expansion, he said. Meanwhile, the return on investment in renewable energy is as high as 12-18 per cent.
IFEC recently partnered with Taiwan's Top Green Energy Technology through a 17-per-cent equity participation in Infinite Green, which is involved in solar-power generation.
The solar-power plant is expected to commence commercial operations by the end of the year. Through the partnership, aside from technology transfer, IFEC will benefit from a cheaper supply of equipment such as solar-cell panels and inverters.
"I'm convinced IFEC's alternative-energy prospects are bright. This is in line with my intention; I joined IFEC because there are several potential investment projects," he said.