Mobius Not Afraid of Thailand

Despite political unrest and major protests, Templeton Asset Management’s Mark Mobius says Thailand is still offering good investment opportunities.

“We are not so concerned about the political situation in Thailand,” Mobius told Reuters. “Because, as you know, we have been investing in Thailand for almost 15 years or more. And we think that this kind of change in the Thai political environment has happened many times before.”

Thailand has the second-largest weighting in Templeton’s Asian Growth Fund, representing 23% of the portfolio, Reuters reports. “Generally speaking, we’ve found that the political situation does not have that much impact on the economic situation and the recovery can come very fast,” Mobius said.

“So we are very happy with what’s happening in Thailand, generally, on the business side and on the stock market side, and any big problem in terms of the political situation will normally be worked out OK.”

Overall, Thai stocks are the cheapest in Southeast Asia, Reuters reports, selling for 11.5 times estimated 2010 earnings. Mobius is particularly high on banks, and property- and energy-related stocks there.

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