Aureos Capital signed a joint-venture agreement with the Government Savings Bank (GSB) on August 7 to set up a fund worth about Bt1 billion to invest in small and medium enterprises.
Aureos, a venture fund jointly owned by the governments of Britain and Norway will invest US$ 20 million (Bt820 million), where GSB will put US$ 10 million (Bt400 million) in the newly established fund, which will be set up in the next two months and its investment will be made via share purchases and financial support.
Aureos’ managing director Sev Vettivetpillai said the company would invest in any kind of Thai business in which it will invest about US$ 0.5 million and US$ 4 million in each firm or hold about 20 percent to 45 percent of each company’s stake. Aureos is interested in emerging markets particularly in Southeast Asia, including Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines, where it also discussed the formation of the same kind of fund with partners in the latter two countries.
The GSB also has plans to establish a new education fund for students, which private firms will be invited to join. In addition, the Finance Ministry is encouraging such fund pooling by planning to give a tax incentive for companies that contribute cash to the fund, where the scheme is in process at the Revenue Department.
