Jul. 13--Siam City Asset Management (SCI-Asset), a unit of Siam City Bank, aims to more than double its assets under management within the next three years.

The company aims for a portfolio of 100 billion baht within three years, from 44.33 billion as of June.

Teeraphan Jittalan, SCI-Asset's managing director, said the company plans to launch two foreign investment funds next month as well as a dozen Korean bond funds over the next six months.

Of the company's portfolio as of June, 22.7 billion baht in assets was held in mutual funds, 18.43 billion in property funds and 3.19 billion in private funds.

Mr Teeraphan said SCI-Asset was also looking to launch a foreign commodities fund that will invest in both soft and hard commodities, with the flexibility to take both long and short positions.

"This type of fund will be more flexible, with the investment focus moving from long positions to short or vice versa depending on the market situation," he said.

Also planned is a China equity fund, based on the view that the Chinese economy will continue to outperform the region for the near future.

SCI-Asset will also launch a new property fund aimed at hotels, serviced apartments and residential rental properties. The fund, expected to be worth 500 million to one billion baht, will focus on leasehold projects with a projected annual return of 7-11 percent.

Mr Teeraphan said SCI-Asset expected its assets under management to reach 60 billion baht by the end of the year, and expressed confidence that it could reach its 100 billion target within three years.

SCI-Asset currently claims around 20,000 clients, mostly customers of parent Siam City Bank.

The company also hopes to expand its services to civil servants through the 40 percent shareholding held by the Government Pension Fund.

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