xfdws VENTURE-CAPITAL sked Emerging Markets Datafile
November 06, 2003
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Venture capital for automotive SMEs, NATION
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A Bt260-million venture capital fund has been set up to inject capital in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the automotive industry.
The initial investment plan will run until the end of the year and benefit two or three SMEs, Saranya Benrohman, manager of the Thai Automotive Fund and managing director of Vnet Venture Capital Management Securities, said yesterday.
The fund would focus on developing high-growth SMEs for listing on the Stock Exchange of Thailand or the Market for Alternative Investment.
It would select altogether 10 firms for investment, out of about 70 SMEs under consideration.
The fund’s investment policy is to provide up to Bt39 million in venture capital to each local SME, taking a stake of 10-35 per cent in each firm and holding the shares for three to five years until its proteges go public.
”The main factor in establishing this fund is the positive outlook in the vehicle sector, which shows further signs of growth. Moreover, there are many vehicle SMEs that want more capital for expansion amid fundamental domestic growth,” Saranya said.
Only 11 companies in the automotive or auto-related sectors are currently listed-nine on the main board and two on the MAI.
The Thai Automotive Fund has Bt260 million under management from its four shareholders-JAIC Asia Holding with Bt110 million, Vnet with Bt90 million, the Small and Medium Enterprise Bank with Bt50 million and Bt10 million from Sumitomo Corp.
The fund’s maturity has been set at 10 years.
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