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BROKERAGES
NUNTAWUN POLKUAMDEE & DARANA CHUDASRI
``Any partner we chose must be financially strong,'' says Mr Chaipatr. |
Seamico Securities plans to form a joint venture with a Vietnamese partner to expand business opportunities in Indochina, according to Chaipatr Srivisarvacha, the company's executive chairman and chief executive officer.
He said Seamico was in talks to take up to a 50% stake in one of three Vietnamese brokers.
"Despite the sharp declines in share prices in the Vietnamese market, we still see strong growth opportunities in Vietnam," Mr Chaipatr said.
Most Vietnamese brokers generated the bulk of their revenues from proprietary trading activities, resulting in big losses due to the 50% decline in the VN Index for the year to date.
"Any partner we chose must be financially strong and have investments in good assets. We hope to close a deal by the end of the year," Mr Chaipatr said.
For Seamico itself, first-half operations showed improvement with a profit of 59.98 million baht compared with losses of 10.82 million in the same period last year. Its market share increased to 4.18% at the end of June, sixth in the industry and up from 3.14% a year ago. Brokerage operations account for around 70% of total revenues.
Seamico has enjoyed even faster growth for its derivative operations, with the company holding a 5.1% market share on the Thailand Futures Exchange at the end of the first half, up from 1.58% the same period last year.
Mr Chaipatr said the company hoped to increase its market share to 5% by the end of the year. Retail investors represent around 70% of all accounts.
Chao Arunyawat, vice-chairman and a managing director for retail operations, said Seamico had 34,404 accounts at the end of the first half, of which 15,083 were active investors. Its account base rose 7% overall in the first half. It also had 913 TFEX accounts at the end of June, up 62% from the end of 2007.
On the investment banking side, Seamico is advising four or five clients for initial public offerings worth 1.2 billion baht, eight to 10 merger-and-acquisition deals valued at three billion and a handful of direct investment projects.
Shares of Seamico (ZMICO) closed on Friday on the SET at 2.14 baht, up six satang, in trade worth 1.159 million baht.
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