SET targets B270bn for IPO market capitalisation

Market capitalisation of initial public offering (IPO) shares issued on the Thai bourse next year is targeted at 270 billion baht, excluding infrastructure funds, says Kesara Manchusree, president of the Stock Exchange of Thailand.

This year, new IPOs launched in Thailand totalled 220 billion baht, including 21 listed on the SET, 13 listed on the Market for Alternative Investment (MAI) and six real estate investment trusts (REITs) and property funds.

“If we include the two infrastructure funds listed on the SET this year, the market capitalisation for the new listings would total 297 billion baht,” said Mrs Kesara.

Besides the currently listed companies, the market expects to see their market cap expand by 255 billion baht in 2016.

“If there are no unexpected incidents over the next two weeks, 2015 should be the third consecutive year that the new IPO market cap of the Thai bourse is the highest in Asean,” said Mrs Kesara.

Apart from the new listed market cap value, the SET also recorded the highest number of listed companies that were selected to list on the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI), reflecting the highest development in terms of corporate governance (CG). There are a total of 13 listed firms in the DJSI at present.

“It is a good to see Thai investors are quite aware about CG. Listed firms are forced to develop their CG practices automatically. Thus, Thai listed companies have been awarded the highest CG scores in Asean in 2015,” said Mrs Kesara.

The average daily trading volume is likely to end at 44.5 billion baht in 2015, slightly lower than last year’s 45.5 billion baht. However, the Thai market has maintained the highest trading volume for four years in a row.

Next year the situation should improve on the back of the recovery of the local economy as well as the global economic recovery, she said.

“We expect daily trading next year will surpass 50 billion baht, driven by the increasing number of IPOs, stronger operating results of listed companies, the recovering economy and the increasing number of investors,” said Mrs Kesara.

The SET is targeting an additional 110,000 investors on the Thai bourse, 10,000 new derivatives investors and 180,000 new online trading accounts next year.

It is also planning to set up a private equity fund with seed capital of 500 million baht, to be invested in qualified small and medium-sized businesses.

“Besides supporting the expansion of SMEs, we have prepared training courses to teach them how to tap the benefits from the capital market and how to mobilise funds from the bourse,” said Mrs Kesara.

SET 100 companies will be invited to join SET programmes that aim to upgrade the efficiency of the whole supply chain, including big firms’ suppliers, which are mostly SMEs.

In addition, Mrs Kesara said the SET planned to develop the market by expanding market cap through new IPOs and launching new products and asset classes, such as rubber futures.

It also plans to boost the number of institutional investors by providing them with funding and expanding the number of new investors as well as promoting financial literacy.