Japanese appliance maker Panasonic Group will reveal the name of its partner in a joint venture for property development within two years.

Panasonic is in talks with 30 companies in Thailand for the property joint venture.

In Japan, Panasonic has engaged in property development, a sector that can benefit from sales of electrical appliances and support the solutions business of the company.

Panasonic Management Thailand deputy managing director Hidekazu Ito said that the company needs more time to study the market and consumer behaviour. It expects to announce the name of its business partner in 2019.

Last October, the company told local media it will seek a partner in Thailand's 350-billion-baht-property market and finalise plans in 2018.

"I am still confident in the Thai economy although the property market was slow last year. But I believe there is potential for the property sector in Thailand," Mr Ito said.

Panasonic yesterday announced that it has made aggressive moves into the business-to-business (B2B) segment, property development and corporate customers as an initial step to branch out into Thailand's property market. The company spent about 50 million baht to open a Panasonic Smart Solution Center at Panasonic Siew Sales' head office on Seri Thai Road.

The centre features Panasonic's Home and Commercial Solution, a platform to provide references for innovative products and technologies, offered by all Panasonic units in one place.

The centre also aims to serve as a communication channel to engage with business partners, and display the overall design, usage and functions.

With the opening of the smart solution centre, Panasonic in Thailand expects the sales portion of Panasonic's B2B business to rise to 20% by 2020, up from current 5%.

Mr Ito said that Thailand is one of the three countries, along with Indonesia and Malaysia, where Panasonic is opening the showroom.

Panasonic Smart Solution Center will also open in Vietnam next year.

"For Thailand, the property market keeps growing, and has shown high potential, especially condominium projects, and corporate customers, and offices," Mr Ito said.

He said the overall situation in Thailand has improved better than expected, encouraging the group to continue to expand and invest more here.

There are 19 companies under Panasonic Group.

Sales of four sales companies in the fiscal year ending March 31, 2018 is expected to increase by 5% to 41 billion baht. Of the total, about 10 billion baht would come from audio and visual products, 13 billion from home appliances, 15 billion from industrial products and the remainder from others.