Kasikorn Securities notes good prospects for JASIF

The Jasmine Broadband Internet Infrastructure Fund (JASIF) is recommended by Kasikorn Securities as an attractive fund, offering about 10% investment return annually despite the insider trading controversy of the former chief executive of Jasmine International Plc (JAS).

Pisut Ngamvijitvong, senior vicepresident of Kasikorn Securities, said JASIF has good prospects among infrastructure funds for the next few years because it’s expected to generate a dividend yield of 5-6% annually.

JASIF’s share price fell from more than 11 baht a share to around 10.60 as of Oct 4. The dip stemmed from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) imposing a civil sanction and ordering reimbursement of 59.1 million baht from two people for insider trading of SET-listed Jasmine Telecom Systems Plc (JTS).

A Stock Exchange of Thailand and SEC investigation found that JAS chief executive and director Pete Bodharamik and Krikrai Tribunyatkul (not employed by either company) used Mr Krikrai’s securities account to purchase JTS shares between Sept 29 and Oct 12, 2016.

Soon after the probe, Mr Pete resigned from his positions at JAS.

JASIF operations are only tangentially related to Mr Pete because the fund is separately governed by another management team. The future share price of JASIF has an opportunity to rise from asset growth, with investors receiving capital gains apart from a dividend yield, Mr Pisut said.

He said JASIF is expected to pay a dividend for its third-quarter performance in November. The dividend payment is estimated at 30 satang, higher than the quarterly average of 23-25 satang among infrastructure funds.

“JASIF plans to increase capital to invest in a fibre-optic cable project to serve 5G technology, with a total investment sum of 38 billion baht,” Mr Pisut said.

A securities source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Mr Pete would receive at least 7 billion baht from JASIF dividend payments at the next payment round.

Based on the current shareholding structure of JASIF, JAS is the biggest shareholder with a 19% stake, followed by LH Securities (4.65%) and State Street Bank and Trust Company (4.58%), according to the Stock Exchange of Thailand.

JASIF’s share price for the first six months of the year averaged about 10-11 baht and peaked at 11.90 baht in July. The share price stayed above 11 baht until Mr Pete was sanctioned by the SEC.