Bonds issued in Thailand can be divided into two major components: government and corporate debt securities.  The market is dominated by government debt securities, which currently account for approximately 85% of the total market.

Government bonds are medium to long-term debt instruments issued by the Ministry of Finance.  They consist of three types; investment bonds (IB) loan bonds (LB) and saving bonds (SB). IB have not been issued since 1991 and there are only a few issues remaining. LB capture the bulk of the market as they are used to finance the budget deficit. SB are issued to provide households with an alternative source of savings.

These are medium to long-term debt instruments issued by state owned enterprises.  Most of them are guaranteed by the Ministry of Finance (MOF).

Corporate debenture issues tend to be extremely popular and often sell out within a few days.  Recent debentures underwritten by Bangkok Bank have been Khanom Electricity Generating (KEGCO), Siam Cement (SCC), Charoen Pokphand Foods (CPF) and Vinythai (VNT).

 

The minimum investment for corporate debentures for an individual, depends on whether it is a public offering (P/O) or private placement (P/P) For a public offering, the minimum investment can be as little as one unit (1,000 or 10,000 Baht). For a private placement the minimum investment is 10 million Baht.