Despite Thailand's political reshuffle, the State Enterprise Policy Office (Sepo) remains committed to proceeding with the planned sale of units of the Vayupak Fund.
According to Tibordee Wattanakul, director-general of Sepo, the cabinet already approved in principle the sale of Vayupak Fund 1, Type A, which is open to the public. The Finance Ministry plans to proceed as planned, he said.
Mr Tibordee said the original cabinet resolution in 2013 set the investment unit sale limit for the Vayupak Fund at 500 billion baht. Roughly 100-150 billion baht worth of units are available for sale.
The Finance Ministry is expected to sell the remaining units in the third quarter, likely around September, he said.
Mr Tibordee said the ministry is scheduled to meet today to determine the return rates for unitholders. The terms of the sale are to include the minimum and maximum return rates.
Once concluded, the details will be submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission for consideration before being announced in the prospectus, he said.
Setting a minimum return rate ensures investors know the guaranteed return.
The maximum return rate refers to the highest rate investors can receive. If the fund exceeds that rate, any excess returns go to the Finance Ministry.
Another condition guarantees the principal if the investment units are held for 10 years. If investors sell their units before this period, the principal is based on the market price at the sale.
The sale price for an investment unit is 10 baht, with allocation using a "small lot first" method, with a minimum investment of 5,000 baht.
Initially around 30% of the units are set aside for retail investors, with the fund manager deeming this proportion as appropriate.
The small lot first method is a stock allocation approach primarily used in initial public offerings to ensure equitable distribution among investors.
The method prioritises smaller investors by allocating shares in small lots first before larger ones.
Mr Tibordee said this is a good time for the Vayupak Fund to invest in the stock market because current stock prices do not fully reflect their true value.
The Thai stock market still has strong fundamentals, and the focus will be on investing in fundamentally strong stocks, he said.
In the past, the Finance Ministry received substantial dividends from managing the Vayupak Fund, around 10 billion baht per year, as the fund's management is regarded as highly professional.
There are two types of Vayupak Funds: Fund Type A allows the public to purchase investment units and has a value of 150 billion baht, while Type B consists of investment units held by the Finance Ministry and state agencies with a combined value of around 350 billion baht.
