Thailand Future Fund (TFFIF) saw its share price rise 3% on its first trading day on Wednesday, while officials are mulling including a merger between CAT Telecom Plc and TOT Plc as an underlying asset for the fund's third batch.
TFFIF's share price closed at 10.30 baht after opening at 10.20, in trade worth 2.33 billion baht.
The fund is Thailand's largest initial public offering (IPO) since 2015, raising 44.7 billion baht during its IPO debut. The fund's first-year return stands at 4.75%.
The fund received an overwhelming response from the public during the IPO subscription period of Oct 12-19, with retail investors' combined subscription value of 28.8 billion baht exceeding the originally proposed sales portion, while institutional investors were oversubscribed.
Prapas Kong-Ied, director-general of the State Enterprise Policy Office, said officials are mulling including a merger between CAT Telecom and TOT as an underlying asset for the fund's third batch. The merger is expected to happen in February, said Mr Prapas.
"CAT and TOT will be merged into a new national telecom organisation by next February. This organisation can be an underlying asset for TFFIF's third batch because both the organisation and the fund need money to expand their networks," he said.
Regarding the plan to include revenue from Motorway No.7, stretching from Bang Na to Chon Buri province, and Motorway No.9, from Bang Pa-in to Bang Na, as underlying assets in the fund's second batch, a feasibility study is being conducted on whether to revise a law on expressway revenue collection to include some revenue portions into the fund or establish a new fund in the form a special purpose entity to enter an investment contract in TFFIF, said Mr Prapas.
Establishing a new fund should be faster than revising a law, he said. The two brownfield projects are expected to be included in the fund by next year's second quarter, said Mr Prapas.
