Asean-focused. Ex-Head of Thai Research

Athaporn Arayasantiparb, CFA

Athaporn served as Head of Research for UOB and ANZ in Thailand and was an award-winning telecoms analyst at UBS in 2010 (AsiaMoney Thailand category) and Regional Strategist for DMG in Singapore. Prior to that, he also served as Kasikornbank credit analyst and scholar. He has a total work experience of 22 years, of which 19 were in research and 9 in research management roles. He started his career as an engineer for PTT and currently manages family investments. He holds an MBA from Stern (NYU) and CFA Charter since 2006.

Apart from IPO Radar, which focuses on future listings, MCorp Review also performs financial advisory services for TKC Services and provides 11 other on-going thematic series ranked by frequency in descending order, namely:

1) Snippets (news-driven);
2) Sathorn Series (financial services);
3) Silicon Stories (technology); 
4) Thai-Coons (billionaire origin series);
5) Reality Check (data-driven, investigative);
6) Thai Media Spotlight;
7) Political Pit Stop; 
8) Telecom Review; 
9) Thai Macro Watch (read-through from foreign events);  
10) Small Cap Diary; and
11) Property Grid

There are also 3 limited-time series driven by specific events or locations, namely:
1) Thai Corona Crisis;
2) South Series; and
3) Mechanics and Details (deal forensics).

The Week that Was in ASEAN@Smartkarma - Jakarta Troubles, Bank Central Asia, and Thai REITs.

Thai-Coons (Ep. 3): RBS Logo...Seriously?

Applying the Baum Principles to Thai Property

CPN: Central Group's Flagship Property Arm

IPO Stalker: SHREIT Doubles Down on Bali & Malaysia

Asean (Thailand) Focused Independent Research

M Corp Review

M Corp is led by Athaporn Arayasantiparb who served as Head of Research for UOB and ANZ in Thailand and was an award-winning telecoms analyst at UBS in 2010 (AsiaMoney Thailand category) and Regional Strategist for DMG in Singapore. Prior to that, he also served as Kasikornbank credit analyst and scholar. He has a total work experience of 17 years, of which 14 were in research and 4 in research management roles. He started his career as an engineer for PTT and currently manages family investments. He holds an MBA from Stern (NYU) and CFA Charter since 2006. Apart from IPO Radar, which focuses on future listings, MCorp Review also provides six on-going thematic series ranked by frequency in descending order, namely: 1) Silicon Stories (technology) 2) Sathorn Series (financial services) 3) Thai-Coons (billionaire origin stories) 4) Reality Check (data-driven, investigative) 5) Thai Media Spotlight; and 6) Thai Macro Watch (global market drivers).

Thematic (Sector/Industry)

Thailand Equity real estate investment trusts (reits) / Thematic (Sector/Industry)

CPN Retail Growth Leasehold REIT (CPNREIT TB)

REITs are fairly new asset class in Thailand. Today, we met with CPN, a sponsor of some of Central Group's most important commercial REITs, and FTREIT (Fraser), an industrial REIT from the TCC Group. Here's the key takeaways:<ul>
<li>
Very stable business but not much growth for both firms. Earnings grew 10% for FTREIT and only 3% for CPN. However, it should be noted that both firms eked out some top line growth, and CPN's earnings were somewhat depressed by the additional debt it incurred to buy out GLAND from BAY Group.</li>
<li>
Geography mattered a lot for FTREIT. It was able to raise rental fees by 3% at the Bangplee estate in Bangkok that served e-commerce firms like Lazada, but for the northern estate (Ayuthya/Pathumthani), they largely kept existing rates in order to retain tenants.</li>
<li>
Low gearing of 0.35x for CPN and 0.23x for FTREIT is a competitive advantage for both. Their high credit ratings (A for FTREIT and AA for CPN) gives them a super low cost of funding only slightly higher than 3%.
</li>
<li>
Opportunities and customers. FTREIT still sees its future primarily in Japanese rather than Chinese customers. Its three locations are respectively dominated by electronics (North), e-commerce (Bangplee), and autos (EEC).</li>
</ul>

REITs are fairly new asset class in Thailand. Today, we met with CPN, a sponsor of some of Central Group's most important commercial REITs, and FTREIT (Fraser), an industrial REIT from the TCC Group. Here's the key takeaways:

Very stable business but not much growth for both firms. Earnings grew 10% for FTREIT and only 3% for CPN. However, it should be noted that both firms eked out some top line growth, and CPN's earnings were somewhat depressed by the additional debt it incurred to buy out GLAND from BAY Group.

Geography mattered a lot for FTREIT. It was able to raise rental fees by 3% at the Bangplee estate in Bangkok that served e-commerce firms like Lazada, but for the northern estate (Ayuthya/Pathumthani), they largely kept existing rates in order to retain tenants.

Low gearing of 0.35x for CPN and 0.23x for FTREIT is a competitive advantage for both. Their high credit ratings (A for FTREIT and AA for CPN) gives them a super low cost of funding only slightly higher than 3%.


Opportunities and customers. FTREIT still sees its future primarily in Japanese rather than Chinese customers. Its three locations are respectively dominated by electronics (North), e-commerce (Bangplee), and autos (EEC).


Frasers Property Thailand Industrial REIT (FTREIT TB)

Frasers Property Thailand Industrial REIT

A Second Look at Thai REITs