Aug. 1–The SMEs Venture Capital Fund, managed by One Asset Management Co, is concerned about growing competition from banks as a source of funds for small and medium-sized enterprises.

Many of the state-initiated fund’s potential clients have instead sought financing from banks due to current record-low lending rates

To stay competitive and differentiate itself, the fund would provide some extra services that are not available from the banks, said Wiwan Tharahiranchote, president of One Asset Management.

An additional service mentioned was for the one-billion-baht fund to assist SMEs in management and marketing

Ms Wiwan said the fund had failed to generate much interest from SMEs in its first two years. One reason was that many small business operators preferred to run their businesses on their own and not through partnerships, she said.

Also, the Sars outbreak and terrorism scares had dented SMEs’ interest in making new investments.

The fund is expected to have outstanding investments of 396 million baht in 37 ventures by the end of this year, which according to Ms Wiwan is a very small number. This year the fund will invest only in 15 projects.

Yesterday, the fund signed joint venture agreements to invest 12.09 million baht with four firms.

It placed 9.59 million baht in IT Works, a developer of software for the tourism industry; 1.70 million baht in Active Sign, a producer of ozone making devices for factories, hospitals, residences and vehicles; 300,000 baht in Professional Chauffeur Supply, a chauffeur supply service for corporate executives; and 500,000 baht in Anglo-Thai Communications, a designer and installer of communication systems and telecommunications equipment.

Ms Wiwan also said One Asset was very interested in running another five-billion fund for the Industry Ministry.

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