SET to select adviser on demutualising

Business News - Tuesday December 11, 2007

STOCKS

SET to select adviser on demutualising

KRISSANA PARNSOONTHORN

The Stock Exchange of Thailand will select an adviser to help study its demutualisation plan within this month.

Kobsak Pootrakul, the executive director of the SET Research Institute, said five companies, mostly international organisations, were offering to advise the SET.

The SET board is expected to choose the winner, which must have vast expertise in demutualisation, before the year-end.

''Once the adviser is chosen, the working committee on demutualisation will spend four months to work on the detailed plan and propose it the SET board by next April,'' he said.After the board considers the demutualisation proposal, it will make a clear conclusion on what the SET will do next on this issue.

Dr Kobsak noted that the SET has recognised the global trend that stock exchanges around are demutualising to become more flexible. This also helps increase a bourse's competitiveness and attractiveness as well.

Moreover, major exchanges have joined hands to form their own pools and this has made it very difficult for smaller markets to attract foreign investors. For the Thai bourse, demutualisation should be done based on the local investment situation, the economy and the positioning of Thailand in the near future.

The adviser, said Dr Kobsak, would suggest the proper way for the SET to restructure and demutualise. It may not be necessary to list shares of the SET to list on the stock market. However, the SET has to change its ownership structure and improve its effectiveness.

By : Bangkok Post