Thai CPN to expand property fund as FX rules ease

BANGKOK, Dec 18 (Reuters) - Thailand's Central Pattana CPN.BK said on Tuesday it planned to double its existing property fund to almost 20 billion baht ($595 million) after the central bank relaxed capital control.

"We decided to double the size of our fund by almost 10 billion baht," chief financial officer Naris Cheyklin told Reuters a day after the Bank of Thailand said it had relaxed the capital controls further.

The relaxations included the exemption of foreign investments in existing property funds to support fund raising for domestic investment through capital markets.

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CPN had delayed raising money for its CPN Retail Growth Property Fund CPNRu.BK several times due to the yearold controls which required foreign investors to set aside 30 percent of their investment in interest-free accounts.

Now the fund raising was expected to be done by the second quarter of next year, Naris said.

CPN, controlled by the Chirathivat family, owns Thailand's biggest retail group and operates 10 shopping centres, with 690,000 square metres (7.427 million sq ft) of space rented to other retailers. ($1 = 33.68 Baht)