Market capitalisation derived from the launch of initial public offerings (IPOs) and secondary public offerings (SPOs) is expected to increase by more than a combined 350 billion baht this year, bolstered by large IPOs in the pipeline, says the Stock Exchange Thailand (SET).
Last year's IPO value stood at about 180 billion baht, with the value of SPOs representing 170 billion baht.
The SET has seen several IPO launches this year, and some large IPOs are expected to be launched during the remaining months, said Mr Manpong, who declined to comment on the bourse's IPO and SPO targets in 2019.
In September, the SET reported that Thailand's stock market was the top-performing IPO market in Asean, with a total fundraising amount of US$720 million (22 billion baht) year-to-date, followed by Singapore ($643 million) and Indonesia ($632 million).
Asset World Corp, the property arm of billionaire Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi, met investors in Singapore in August to gauge foreign investor demand for what could be one of Thailand's biggest IPOs this year, Bloomberg reported.
The developer of hotels, shopping malls and office buildings aims to raise $1 billion-$1.5 billion.
The Bank of Thailand will own less than half of Bangkok Commercial Asset Management (BAM) if the country's biggest distressed asset manager sells all 1.77 billion shares in its long-anticipated IPO.
BAM aims to dispose of as much as 54.4% of its enlarged capital, it said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in August. The timing of the share sale and listing on the SET was not specified.
Market cap generated from allocating IPO shares to the general public fell to 183 billion baht in 2018, missing the SET's target of 250-300 billion baht, excluding the Thailand Future Fund (TFFIF). The figure was a far cry from an all-time high of 426 billion baht in 2017.
The number of listed securities last year was halved to 23 from 46 in 2017.
Of the 23 securities, 19 were listed companies, three were real estate investment trusts (REITs) and the other was the TFFIF, an infrastructure fund.
In a related development, the SET and SEC yesterday launched a one-stop service centre to enable securities issuers wanting to raise funds in both the primary and secondary markets to reduce the lengthy process of fundraising on the SET.
The SEC will look after the rules and regulations of securities issuing and fundraising processes for the primary market, while the SET will oversee the listing process and trading rules on the exchange.
