Dr. Veeratai said he will oversee the SET’s foreign market strategy and restructure the organization under his management to the direction according to his visionary.

A forty-something, Dr. Veeratai admitted he is new to the field and the stock market is always challenging, but he will utilize all the knowledge he have got in both developing skills and learning.

“The capital market has been offering vast opportunity to learn. I feel it’s a missing piece of jigsaw I’m looking after. I have to learn while I was young and energetic to complete my knowledge in every of field economics,” he said.

A news source reported that Dr. Veeratai has been picked by the Stock Exchange of Thailand’s managing director Pattriya Benchapholhai herself, because he is generally accepted as a talent economist by the people in the finance industry.

The source said the Dr. Veeratai will be replacing Dr. Kobsak Phutrakul, director of the Capital Market Research Institute, who is due to leave for his former position at the Bank of Thailand in January.

With 40 years of age, she is the youngest top executive ever of the Royal Dutch Shell’s unit in Thailand and only one of three Thai executives ever appointed to the position and will have 20 years to go at the company helm.

She joined Shell in 1990 as assistant business development manager, and then was rotated to position between Shell’s affiliate, including chief logistic staff at the refinery FRCT in Rayong.

A dynamic working woman, Pssawan said she does not feel the pressure being seated as chair of the company during the global economic recession.

Instead, she found it has been an honor and a precious New Year gift.

“I think it’s challenging,” she said. “I don’t have even time to celebrate the New Year. I have to prepare myself for the new role.”

Effective January 1st, Pissawan sets to ensure that the company’s management goes in four directions:

Firstly, Shell Thailand will start reengineering its organization in compliance with the mother company’s Downstream One policy by implementing IT system at all departments and branches to enhance its management and competitiveness.

“Shell Thailand will be amongst the first companies in Asia-Pacific to install the system,” she said. “Upon completion, customers and trade partners will be more convenience in doing transaction with Shell under one global standard.”

Secondly, the company will focus on ‘Operational Excellence’ by improving services at its pump stations throughout the country to ensure that customers want to return to and use its service.

Thirdly, focusing on Product Quality Excellence by offering only innovative and quality products and services, which aims to impress and reach into larger group of customer.

“We want to be the first brand in their mind when people think about gas,” Passawan said.

And lastly, the company will focus on the mother company’s policy on global warming by looking for methods and materials that produce less carbon dioxide emission in the production processes, as well as alternative energies under ‘Shell Energy Scenarios to 2050’ project.

Passawan remarked that Shell will continue expanding its investment activities, because it remains confident in the Thai economy.

Many said this is beyond expected. Rumor has it that Sompong, who outwardly appears to be a polite businessman, is inwardly a cunning conman. He and a closest friend gave customers a fake car license plate while keeping the real one to apply for bank loan.

All the money generating from the forgery was reported spending in gambling and shares prices manipulation.

Brilliant businessman, Sompong was expected to be the winner of the government’s 4,000 energy-efficient buses project worth several billion baht that will be all rent from his company.

Despite the business’s bright future, S.E.C. has raised capital repeatedly. It added 400 million baht to working capital in the latest activity in October.

A couple months earlier, the company just raised 387 million baht in capital.

A person involved in the matter said that Sompong had added billion to his prosperity in doing so.

But where’s the money gone. It is possible that Sompong lost them all in gambling and stock prices speculations.

He was being forced to sell high-risk stocks and raised loan margin by several brokerage firms for several times recently.

When the fund was running out, Sompong tapped fresh funds by offering the company’s new shares to politician friends and wealthy investors. However, no new share were issued and transferred.

When an influential investor (mafia) approached, Sompong chose what is best for himself: disappeared.

A heavy public resistance remains a major obstacle for the maker of the Beer Chang’s homecoming. Despite its latest effort for a listing on the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) got all the necessary approvals from government’s top administrators and agencies, the company has once again called off the plan when thousands of Buddhists monks staged a rally at the SET office.

A week earlier, ThaiBev was upbeat it will receive a warmest welcomed as SET’s latest listing company of the year. Many had hoped that ThaiBev’s homecoming is a move that will help restored investor confident as well as rescued the market from currently slumping, which made worst records in a decade daily.

Why homecoming

Offshore, ThaiBev was not doing well on the Singapore bourse. Its Singapore $0.28 IPO went down to the floor of S$0.19 in few months of trading before making a technical rebound to between S$0.20 - S$0.23 a share and currently is traded at $0.21 a share.

Singapore’s economic growth, on the other hand, was reported even worst than that of Thailand, according to analysts.

With an annual cash flow of 21 billion baht generating solely from a brewery business, a homecoming to the Thai bourse was seen by many as a key factor to move Mr. Charoen up a higher position on the Forbes’ lists ladder.

Several analysts believed that ThaiBev’s expansion to the soft drink business by acquiring Oishi is an attempt to show the public that its major businesses has been diversified largely to non-alcohol-related products.

However, despite of legally correct, ThaiBev’s ethical on an attempt to raise money for its beverage business always got the public raised eyebrows, especially the Buddhist-dominated community.

Fact data

Thai Beverage Plc reported a nine-month earning of 76.52 billion baht, up 2.5 percent from the same period a previous year, and net profit of 7.38 billion baht, or 0.3 percent higher than a year earlier.

The company’s net worth was 79.83 billion baht, consisting of 24.20 billion baht in debt and 55.64 billion baht in owner equity.

Chief investment communications Richard Jones said ThaiBev has a policy to pay out dividends not less than 50 percent of its net profit.

ThaiBev P/E ratio was averaging 10.2 times and 50 percent of its costs are concise taxes.

Mr. Charoen’s motto is serene but powerful like water, which means when the tidal waves move it will create a devastating effect.

He said Pylon has been approaching by two or three non-listed companies on the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) seeking for strategic partner.

Mr. Chanes noted that it’s the best time now for merger or acquisition opportunity, but the company is in no hurry, because making a negotiation in an appropriate time will produce better advantages to both sides.

“We have focused on liquidity and cost cutting, as well as low debt to equity ratio of 0.71, which are mostly account payables. Maintaining long-term debt at the current level will also eliminate us obligations on interest, and provide us financial and profit potential,” Mr. Chanes said.

For strategic partner, he said investment requires consideration of all potential aspects and costs are seen lower in the future.

“The economic and politics situations will remain unstable for the next year,” he said. “At the time, there will be cheap companies for us to acquire.”

Pylon expects a net profit of 700 million baht in the next year, pushed by a split of equal earning generating from contracted projects with both government and private organizations.

The company forecasted its 2008 fourth quarter earning of 220 million baht, generating from the government’s subway project.

Mr. Pichit said the assets management firm is considering establishing 3 three new businesses, including first, a real estate fund aiming at the private equity business; second and third, a financial and real estate consulting, which will be operating through an affiliate.

He said the company also plans to invest in small-and-medium-size companies, which both the local and foreign investors have no skill of, persuading by to higher rate of return.

About the private equity fund, Mr. Pichit noted that: “We are only offering consult services. MFC earning will be generating from consult fees, which is a long-term earning. Rate of return can be increased in the future upon how well we manage the risk factors.”

MFC currently manages 3 private equity funds including the Energy Fund worth 2.5 billion baht, the Tsunami Fund worth 2.8 billion baht, and the Thailand Equity Fund worth 10 billion baht. ($1 = 34.78 baht)

The company reported a net lost of 3.96 million baht in the third quarter of 2008, down 113.02 percent from the same period a previous year of 30.43 million baht due to lower earnings from service fees and subsidiaries’ net lost.

MFC’s nine months net profit was 52.16 million baht, down 31.46 percent from a year earlier 76.10 million baht.

He said the policy will help the Thai economic expanded by not lower than 4.0 percent in the next year.

The first policy aims to increase liquidity in the economic system. The finance minister remarked that the gap between commercial banks’ low deposit rate of 2.0 percent and the Bank of Thailand’s bond repurchase rate of 3.75 percent has put deficiency liquidity at the markets while overly sufficiency at the central bank due to marginal gain speculation.

The second policy aims to help the export sector. Mr. Suchart said every fall by 1 baht against the U.S. dollar will increase the country’s export value by 178 billion baht even though the oil prices will increase by 10 satang per liter for such falling.

“Currency exchange gain is free money. On the other hand, this will boost the export of agricultural products due to an increase in buying power in the trade partner countries. The Chinese government also has the same policy,” Mr. Suchart said.

The third policy is targeted to cut both personal and corporate income taxes to sustain the country’s competitiveness in a long-run basis.

He said the government will also consider a deficit budgetary to compete with the regional leading rivals countries such as Hong Kong and Singapore.

The Bank of Thailand governor Tarisa Wattanagase said the central bank is mulling its policy rate cut following a sharp decline in inflation data.

She said the bank’s policy now shifted focus to sustainable economy rather than inflation stability.