BP: Foreign investors rip into FBA draft again

[William]

INVESTMENT FOREIGN OWNERSHIP

Foreign investors rip into FBA draft again

WORANUJ MANEERUNGSEE
The foreign business community in Thailand is disappointed with the cabinet's latest version of the foreign business ownership law, saying the government did not listen to investor concerns. On Tuesday, the cabinet endorsed revisions to the Foreign Business Act (FBA) that were more relaxed than those proposed by the National Legislative Assembly.

However, the latest version of the Act increases fines five-fold to up to five million baht. In addition, the cabinet exempted businesses in the telecommunications, retail and hotel sectors from the FBA rules, under the principle that these businesses operated under their own separate laws.

It also keeps the grandfather clause for List 3, and allows foreign investors to retain management control.

''That is a small improvement,'' said Paul Strunk, executive director of the German-Thai Chamber of Commerce.

Mr Strunk stressed that a major concern of foreign investors was broadening the definition of a foreign company, which would take voting rights into account instead of simply shareholdings. Foreign investors came to Thailand for doing business, and wanted to be treated the same way as Thais, he added.

Concentrating on voting rights was a move in the wrong direction, he said, adding that Thailand had already sent many negative signals to the world last year, from Parliament dissolution to foreign ownership control.

''If the government does not want to listen to foreign investors, let it go ahead and see what would happen later in the year,'' he said. ''We are running out of ideas to make them listen to us.''

Mr Strunk said existing foreign firms were unlikely to leave Thailand, but new foreign investors would not come.

Peter Van Haren, president of the Joint Foreign Chambers of Commerce (JFCC), also expressed disappointment.

''We are very disappointed. The government won't listen to investors' concerns,'' he said from Europe.
''[Foreign investors] are quickly shifting to other countries like Vietnam for investment considerations.''

[watterinja]

''We are very disappointed. The government won't listen to investors' concerns,'' he said from Europe.
''[Foreign investors] are quickly shifting to other countries like Vietnam for investment considerations.''

A strategic, fundamental shift in foreign investment & sentiment will take a long time to repair - if ever. Malaysia seems pretty attractive nowadays especially with long visas, right to purchase land & to finance locally.

Thailand seems to have put itself on bypass.

[in4zip]

Foreign investors came to Thailand for doing business, and wanted to be treated the same way as Thais, he added.

you gotta be kiddin, same level playing field as for the somchais?
howdafuck would they ever be able to compete?

buahahahaha5555 Mr Strunk pull yer head out of yer culo

furthermore from Khun Strunk

''We are very disappointed."
"The government won't listen to investors' concerns,''

So what's new ... the only thing required is that johnny foreigner bring the dosh and know how, get fucked and loose it all and quietly bugger off without much of a fuss. For example me squeeze works in largish foreign media agency .

of course the local partners (aka the de facto owners due to the mickey mouse laws), share profit and loss with the foreign side of the affair.

Unfortunately its been years that the company has been turning minimal profits or barely breaking even.

what's so strange about all this? ... well ... since thai creative greed knows no bounds, and I fathom it also has to go hand in hand with the overseas farang partners stupidity, the little brown fucks in charge have created other little mini companies that do the same type of work - and here is the kicker - working out of the same premises, using the same equipment and same personnel. So it costs somchai quasi zero baht for this, let us call it, extra curriculum freelance work. Zero overhead, zero HR cost, just about all pure net income. Of course the int'l corporation sends people around to check but are clueless and/or hoodwinked. Of course the dumb white fucks put in more and more checks and balances like job and cost control procedures which work just fine ... in the west ... its just not "the thai way" of doing things

Just one last glimpse into how things are thai "managed":
if a new account proves to be profitable and promises to be a cash cow over time, the whole team (going to work for a newly formed thai company the owners of which are ... yes , you guessed right) breaks away and takes the 'contract' with them working out of some dirt cheap home-office town house. Of course contracts can also peter out over time, and most of the out of work people just filter back to the original nest...

and repeat ad nauseam


johnny foreigner, ya gotta be fuckin nutts, if ya wanna do biz ova here!

[Butterfly]

You can do biz but you got to find the right people and pay close to the same level as farangland, which makes the whole exercise kind of pointless.

A lot of shit business with little profit here for sure.

[in4zip]

You can do biz but you got to find the right people and pay close to the same level as farangland, which makes the whole exercise kind of pointless.

A lot of shit business with little profit here for sure.

right'o Butty, if the 50/50 johnny foreigner, somchai Co. Ltd (TH) is making a buck, rest assured, 'the later' will try his utter best to fuck you out of your 50 cents

[Butterfly]

^ I went through this already. The "Thai" guy trying to steal my overseas clients. Luckily I got him but didn't tell him I caught him doing it. Just got rid of him slowly but surely. Took me 4 months.

[William]

Thailand's trading partners urge scrapping tough business law

Thailand's top trading nations on Thursdsay urged the country's army-backed government to scrap a new investment law that limits foreign ownership and punishes violators with jail terms.

The ambassadors from the United States and Japan, Thailand's largest export market and the biggest investor, held talks with a senior government official, warning the new law would affect foreign investments in here.

"They have expressed their concern that the new law will not do any good and will affect investment," Prasit Kovilaikool, the minister attached to the Prime Minister's Office said.

Apart from the United States and Japan, officials from the European Union, Canada, South Korea and several key trading nations attended the meeting to urge the government to scrap the new foreign business law.

Agence France Presse