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Published on November 16, 2007

Listed firms must report their investments during the quarter in notes of financial statements if such transaction values in each quarter exceed two times the outstanding investment and over 5 per cent of total assets as at the end of the quarter, SEC director of the corporate affairs department Charuphan Intararoong said yesterday.

Listed companies have never been forced to report investment transactions but the SEC recently found a proliferation of investment transactions made by listed companies in the stock market, she said, adding that the reporting requirement was to ensure investors would have complete information. The SEC board has required listed companies to report their investment transactions as some firms bought a number of stocks in their portfolio during quarter but sold them ahead of the end of the quarter to avoid recording them in financial statements.

Meanwhile, the SEC has eased some requirements imposed on mutual funds, lifting their investment ceiling in property funds.

The funds are no longer subject to a 15-per-cent limit, because the SEC considers property funds sufficiently developed, with a variety of asset types and greater familiarisation of investors. The SEC hopes the new ruling will ease the establishment of property funds.

At a meeting on Wednesday, the SEC also eased the "group limit", the ceiling of investment in a particular securities and related companies, which now stands at 30 per cent.

The limit will be based on the market capitalisation of a security, with an overweight of no more than 10 per cent or a group limit of no more than 30 per cent of the mutual fund's net asset value, whichever is higher.

Siriporn Chanjindamanee

 The Nation