TICON is spearheading Thailand REIT market issue and positioning TMAN to be the top REIT Management Company of Thailand
Mr. Virapan Pulges, Managing Director of TICON Industrial Connection Plc. or TICON, says the company targets TICON Management Co., Ltd or known as “TMAN” - an affiliate of TICON Group, to be the top REIT Management Company of Thailand.
To achieve such target, TMAN’s work force will be the key success factor, the company has tasked Mr. Amorn Chulalaksananukul in the position of Managing Director of TMAN to meet the target of being the leader of REIT Management Company in Thailand. TICON is confident that Mr. Amorn’s credentials and experience of over 20 years in the banking and finance business as well as Investment Banking industry will provide TMAN the right leadership for its aggressive growth target.
Mr. Amorn Chulaluksananukul states that the role of REIT Manager is quite similar to the roles of typical Funds and Asset Manager of the Property Fund. The main responsibility is to manage assets in REIT for sustainable return to investors. REIT Manager also acts as fund raising source to Property Developer by seeking funding from both Equity and Debt Capital Markets for investment in quality assets, for instance warehouses, factories, etc. Mr. Amorn adds that one major task is to seek potential customers to lease the properties in REIT to generate stable income and to provide returns to unitholders. The REIT Manager has to consider investing in other qualified properties to continuously expand the size of REIT as well as to provide an attractive return to the unitholders.
“TMAN is now ready to be fully engaged with the REIT management business after receiving approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). The company has submitted filing application to SEC to set up a REIT by having TICON Group’s assets of quality Warehouses and Factories to be the first target asset investment,” Mr. Virapan says.
“The newly established REIT will initially invest in Warehouses and Factories of TICON Group –with total size around 4-5 billion Baht. We are strongly confident that REIT will be an equally attractive investment proposition like the 3 preceding Funds of TICON Group, i.e. TFUND, TLOGIS, and TGROWTH. All of them have successfully generated benefits over the years. The key factor that has driven the success of all the previous Funds is the quality of TICON Group’s properties. All of the properties are situated in prime locations of the distribution and industrial area in leading industrial estates and/or parks and BoI promoted zone which are strategically located near the transportation hubs of Thailand. In the future, the integration of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) will be effective. Thailand continues to be the investment destination of foreign investors due to the competitiveness of the manufacturing industries and the ideal location of the country which is situated in the center of ASEAN. TICON Group, as a leading provider of Warehouses and Factories, will certainly benefit from the growing demand of the investors who aim to use Thailand to be the distribution hub and manufacturing base”, Mr. Amorn says.
“Aside from the initial Warehouses and Factories to be injected into the REIT, there might have potential to extend the list of additional properties to investment in Office buildings, Community Mall and other good commercial properties in Thailand and outside to other newly set up REIT. This is to grow and diversify in the types of income generating assets and to increase the market liquidity of the REIT registered in the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET).
“REIT is another new attractive alternative investment for Thai investors. TMAN has planned to ensure steady growth of the REIT in the long term. The ultimate goal is to ensure growth in the next 3 to 5 years – so as to attract more domestic and foreign investors. “TMAN as the REIT manager will play a vital role in the operation and growth of the REIT under an experienced professional management team licensed by the SEC with good corporate governance” Mr. Amorn says.
