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).

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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).

Cross Asset Strategy

Thailand has been one of Asia's worst performers in 2020, but for many of the same reasons, the Thai market will look more attractive in 2021:<ul>
<li>
Low base effects. An expected economic decline of 8% and earnings decline of 30% (with a quarter of listed companies losing money) has greatly lowered the bar for Thai companies. This makes it very attractive to bet on recovery stories, especially those that have been directly impacted by COVID-19 (such as tourism) and those catering to the rich.</li>
<li>
Continuation of QE. In an environment of strong QE action from the United States and other OECD nations, we are not expecting multiples to narrow even as earnings expand. The bias should remain on big caps that can absorb the surge in foreign liquidity.</li>
<li>
The remote economy is likely to continue at least for the first nine months, and if there is political instability, it will come in handy as well. We continue to expect broadband Internet providers or anything related to e-commerce and gaming to do well in much of 2021.</li>
</ul>

Thailand has been one of Asia's worst performers in 2020, but for many of the same reasons, the Thai market will look more attractive in 2021:

Low base effects. An expected economic decline of 8% and earnings decline of 30% (with a quarter of listed companies losing money) has greatly lowered the bar for Thai companies. This makes it very attractive to bet on recovery stories, especially those that have been directly impacted by COVID-19 (such as tourism) and those catering to the rich.

Continuation of QE. In an environment of strong QE action from the United States and other OECD nations, we are not expecting multiples to narrow even as earnings expand. The bias should remain on big caps that can absorb the surge in foreign liquidity.

The remote economy is likely to continue at least for the first nine months, and if there is political instability, it will come in handy as well. We continue to expect broadband Internet providers or anything related to e-commerce and gaming to do well in much of 2021.


Thai Strategy 2021 (Part 1): Key Themes