Bangkok--Sep 23--SET
The President of The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET), Mr. Kittiratt Na-Ranong, disclosed that “Thailand Focus 2004”, which was jointly hosted by FeTCO (the Federation of Thai Capital Market Organizations), the SET, Credit Suisse First Boston, and ABN AMRO had been a huge success. The event took place during September 20 — 22, 2004 at the Four Seasons Hotel, Bangkok. Although this was its debut, the event received accolades far beyond expectations.
The “Thailand Focus 2004” symposium was held to present essential information about Thailand’s true potential. The event provided direct access to the SET50 companies as well as companies having potential to list. Local and overseas fund managers were also provided with investment-related information on both the public and private sectors. The event, which gathered an exceptionally large number of executives, was truly a success.
“The very positive outcome can be observed from the large number of participants, which was recorded at 1,035. Of these participants, 411 were fund managers from a total of 161 institutions. Of these, 136 were foreign institutions while the remaining 25 were locals. There were more than 200 chief executives from the public and private sectors who participated, plus an additional 250 corporate executives from 54 companies. Naturally, the event attracted its share of media coverage. There were 178 local and foreign press representatives in attendance from a variety of news desks. Consequently, despite this being “Thailand Focus 2004’s” debut, the outcome has been very favorable for both the organizers and the participants,” Mr. Kittiratt said.
Most importantly, the event received serious attention from senior executives in the public sector, including Thailand’s Prime Minister, as well as cabinet ministers responsible for important economic aspects. Other than Prime Minister Dr. Thaksin, senior ministers participating in the event were the Ministers of Finance, Transport, Energy, Interior; and of Information & Communication Technology (ICT). In addition to these key policymakers, the Governor of the Bank of Thailand and chief executives from other government institutions also participated.
Mr. Suthep Peetakanont, Chairman of FeTCO, said, “Thailand Focus 2004 has received a lot of attention from stock analysts, since it was the biggest event that has ever taken place in the Thai capital market. The executives, stock analysts, and mutual fund managers have all had an opportunity to exchange opinions with leading international fund managers from around the globe. This was an incredibly rare opportunity that Thai executives wholeheartedly took advantage of.
“This has been a highly successful event. Apart from making it possible throughout the 3-day event for foreign fund managers to get together with leading Thai organizations from both the government and private sectors, this assemblage led to numerous personal post-event meetings. The most important outcome was that the joining together of so many fund managers from around the world has drawn a great deal of attention from the entire global capital market. It has also derived many direct benefits, including a notable enhancement in the credibility of the Thai capital market”, said Mr. Suthep.
Mr. Mark Fuchs, Managing Director, Country Manger, Credit Suisse First Boston Securities Co., Ltd. stated that the Thailand Focus 2004’s participants were a remarkable gathering of global fund managers. These international fund managers, who currently manage more than THB53 trillion, (approx. USD 1.3 trillion) — consisted of representatives of fund management firms from around the world, with Asia dominating (over 50%), and the others coming from as far as Europe, America, and the Middle East.
In Mr. Fuchs’ opinion, “Thailand Focus 2004 was one of the biggest single country events in South East Asia. It is such a rare opportunity that so many fund managers are able to come into face-to-face contact with so many leading executives from both the government and private sectors under the umbrella of a single event”.
Mr. Ike Swamipakdi, Head of Sales, International Equities Sales, ABN AMRO, believes that “another reason for the success of this event was the attention given to the listed companies’ presentation sessions throughout the three-day event. It is apparent that more than 500 meetings altogether occurred, including small-group meetings as well as one-on-one meetings. In all these meetings listed companies got the opportunity to meet with major fund managers.
“The sectors these fund managers are interested in included energy, communication, and banking. Executives from large Thai corporations were very busy with meetings with various fund managers. Many participating companies had to slot more small-group meetings instead of one-on-one meetings, as more than one fund had requested to join in certain sessions. The outcomes of these meetings actually turned out to be even greater than our expectations.”
For more information, please contact Media Relations Unit,
Corporate Communication Dept.:
Ladawan Kantawong Tel: 0-2229-2036 /
Kulvida Jintakawong Tel: 0-2229-2037/
Nattaporn Boonprapa Tel: 0-2229-2049 End.
--InfoQuest (NT)--