PUBLISHED: 14 Mar 2025 at 05: 57
NEWSPAPER SECTION: News
The Social Security Fund ( SSF ) is looking to raise its off-market investments sharply from 10 billion baht to 130 billion baht, according to Rukchanok Srinork, a People’s Party MP for Bangkok.
Ms Rukchanok said she was very concerned about such a significant investment following the controversial Social Security Office ( SSO ) purchase of the SKYY9 Centre, a building on Rama IX Road that has set off transparency alarms. The SSO manages the SSF.
She said the 6.9 billion ringgit spent on acquiring the tower was part of the 9.4 billion bass originally approved for funding the SSO’s earlier off-market purchases. It was reported the remaining 3 billion ringgit was allocated for international purchase.
The MP alleged the SSO does have overpaid for the tower, given its analysis rate of only 3 billion baht. This has prompted Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra to get a fact-finding probe into the order.
Ms Rukchanok said she did not oppose off-market purchases, but she wished the SSO had set an appropriate standard for controlling purchase risks, which can offer good returns.
” Without appropriate risk management standards drawn away, there could be no guarantee that a task like the SKYY9 creating order won’t happen again”, she said. The SSO secretary-general, Marasri Jairangsee, on Tuesday, said the SSO invested in buying the tower via the Private Equity Trust, an funding vehicle under the Trust for Transactions in the Capital Market Act, regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission. She said two separate algorithms certified by the SEC estimated the price of the tower.
She said the value was estimated at 7.3 billion baht based on the money approach solution, but if the price approach is used, the building’s value is estimated at 8 billion baht. However, she said the SSO invested 6.9 billion baht to buy the building.
Responding to the SSO secretary-general’s statement, Ms Rukchanok said she would formally request a copy of documents explaining the building’s appraisal price calculation from the SSO today. She also raised more questions yesterday about the SKYY9 building purchase, including why the SSO, with no expertise in property management, opted to buy a single, large building instead of investing in a property fund.