GMA Capital Partners, ACMF Group launch $200 million Thai SET Fund

Singapore-based investment firm GMA Capital Partners and ACMF Group have announced the launch of the Thai SET Fund, a vehicle of up to THB 7 billion (approx. $207 million) that will provide structured financing to companies listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) and their principal shareholders. 

The fund will focus on financing secured by listed equity positions, a structure widely used in the United States and Europe that allows major shareholders to raise capital against their holdings without selling down strategic stakes. While such financing has been available in Thailand through broker lending desks, a dedicated pooled vehicle at this scale is new to the market. The strategy will also consider opportunities on other exchanges across Asia-Pacific.

The launch targets a structural gap in one of Southeast Asia’s hottest markets. The SET Index climbed 26.3 per cent in the first half of 2026 to close at 1,591.24, placing it among the top three performers in the region, while foreign investors bought a net $881 million of Thai equities over the period and accounted for more than half of daily trading value. Average daily turnover across the SET and mai rose 57.5% year on year.

Policymakers are pushing in the same direction. The Securities and Exchange Commission’s 2026 to 2028 strategic plan puts market liquidity and international competitiveness at its core, with Thailand’s new individual savings account scheme (TISA) launching this year, a market-maker programme under study to deepen liquidity in small and mid-cap stocks, and the exchange reviewing trading restrictions introduced in 2025 as it works to draw foreign capital back. The shift is already visible in the flows: foreign investors sold a net THB 108 billion ($3.2 billion) of Thai equities in 2025 before turning net buyers in the first half of 2026.

Yet ownership of the market remains heavily concentrated. Exchange data shows 451 of the 791 companies listed on the SET and its secondary board, the Market for Alternative Investment (mai), are family businesses, representing 57% of all listed companies and 43% of total market capitalisation. For these shareholders, raising capital has traditionally meant selling shares and diluting control. The fund is designed to offer a third route.

Capital needs rising across Thailand’s growth sectors

The fund will target companies in the sectors driving Thailand’s next phase of growth, including renewable energy, digital infrastructure and data centres, electric vehicles, and green manufacturing. Capital requirements in these industries are climbing sharply: in May, the Asian Development Bank unveiled a $70 billion programme through 2035 to connect Asia’s power grids and digital networks, with Southeast Asia at the centre of the build-out.

“Asia is entering the largest infrastructure build-out in a generation. The ADB alone has put $70 billion behind the region’s power grids and digital networks, and Thai listed companies will be building a lot of it,” said Chasen Nevett of GMA Capital Partners. “The capital to match that ambition has to move just as fast. This fund is live from day one with capacity for THB 7 billion ($207 million), and it lets founders raise serious money against their shareholdings in weeks rather than months, without giving up a single share of control. We think that changes the equation for a big part of the Thai market.”

“This partnership reflects ACMF Group’s focus on connecting regional corporate clients with international sources of capital,” said Suvicha Nalita, senior managing partner of ACMF Holdings (Thailand) Co., Ltd. “The fund gives Thai listed companies and their shareholders access to financing structures that are standard practice in global capital markets but have been hard to reach from Bangkok. That gap is now closed.”

GMA Capital Partners is a Singapore-based investment firm focused on structured capital solutions across real-economy sectors. ACMF Group is a private fundraising consultancy with an established regional presence, including in Thailand, and will contribute local market expertise and deal origination to the fund.

Both firms expect the fund to build a pipeline of transactions with listed companies and major shareholders across sectors represented on the SET, with scope to expand the programme as it matures.

Re-disseminated by Wealth and Society