Nominee Company Mess

[turnip]

New ruling does seem to effect farang owning property through a company with nominee shareholders. Although, as Thai apply law is not strictly applied according to the book it may not be such a worry in a months time. Some <deleted> and his mia noi sat down with a bottle of black and worked out a plan. Sobbered up, they will not be so strict. I cant believe they will screw up such a good, solid instream of cash.

Time will tell.

But as the rule stands today the only sectors exempt are:

- Tourism

- Retail and wholesale - Insurance

- Banks, finance and credit firms

- Brokerages

- Derivatives

- Manufacturing, exports and industries that have investment privileges

- Agriculture futures - Other services

So property is clearly is not exempt.

And,

From today, companies that are majority-owned by foreigners and their Thai nominees will have 90 days to report their ownership structures to the Commerce Ministry.

Once the changes become law, these firms will have one year to reduce their foreign share ownership to below 49 percent.

(including i believe voting rights)

Under the new rules, foreign companies with controlling voting rights in Thai-registered firms will have two years to cut their voting rights to less than 50 percent. Companies can be fined up to 5 million baht or face a daily fine of 50,000-250,000 baht for breaching the Act.

Source: Reuters: http://investing.reuters.co.uk/news/articl...HIP-FACTBOX.XML

The new rules seem to effect farang ownership via company a great deal. I hope they will clarify / change the rules in the coming days. If not, the biggest exodus since ...