News Room - Business/Economics

Posted on 03 Nov 2009

Map Ta Phut worries overseas investors

The fate of industrial projects in Map Ta Phut has is a major concern for institutional investors and could affect their confidence in Thailand, says Sopawadee Lertmanaschai, chief marketing officer for markets and post trade services at the Stock Exchange of Thailand.

 

Ms Sopawadee led a two-day roadshow of listed company executives to Singapore last week and said the overall response was satisfactory.

 

However, the concern that investors mentioned the most was Map Ta Phut, where the

Administrative Court

has suspended permits for 76 projects on environmental grounds.

 

"Institutional investors that we met are still interested in Thailand and some are continuing their investment here," she said. "But they are most concerned about what the result of the Mat Ta Phut issue will be."

 

Other concerns remain political uncertainties and the rumours that sent the Thai stock market tumbling two weeks ago.

 

Institutional investors have called for improvement in short-selling liquidity on the SET by making securities borrowing and lending more convenient. They also want to see larger listed companies, which could attract the interest of big institutional investors.

 

Ms Sopawadee said institutional investors tended to be more interested in China and India which had high growth and did not have political problems that would pressure investment.

 

Among the 17 companies participating in the roadshow were Advanced Info Service, Charoen Pokphand Foods, Tisco Financial Group, Preuksa Real Estate and Sansiri.