Foreign businesses in Thailand

[WilliamCave]

We’re can I get a list of foreign owned big business in Thailand 

ths in advance 

[Mike Lister]

1 hour ago, WilliamCave said:

We’re can I get a list of foreign owned big business in Thailand 

ths in advance 

Virtually all businesses in Thailand are, by law, 51% Thai owned, apart from BOI companies and even these are disallowed in some business sectors.

 

Perhaps if you tell us more about what you are trying to accomplish that may help.

 

 

[gamb00ler]

US citizens and corporations can own 100% of a Thailand corporation under the Treaty of Amity between US-Thailand.

Edited February 13 by gamb00ler

[Mike Lister]

30 minutes ago, gamb00ler said:

US citizens and corporations can own 100% of a Thailand corporation under the Treaty of Amity between US-Thailand.

Can you list some of those that are wholly owned that are big business? All the big names I can think of are Thai majority owned and have the word (Thai) after the name. 

[FritsSikkink]

4 hours ago, Mike Lister said:

Can you list some of those that are wholly owned that are big business? All the big names I can think of are Thai majority owned and have the word (Thai) after the name. 

Loads of multinationals have full ownership through BOI.

[Mike Lister]

4 minutes ago, FritsSikkink said:

Loads of multinationals have full ownership through BOI.

Can you list some?

[FritsSikkink]

6 minutes ago, Mike Lister said:

Can you list some?

Have a look here: ○ BOI : The Board of Investment of Thailand

[josephbloggs]

18 minutes ago, Mike Lister said:

Can you list some?

 

There are bajillions, including:

Toyota Motor Company

Nestle
Unilever
Honda
Siemens
P&G
Mitsubishi
Shell
DHL
IBM
Mitsubishi
Samsung
Coca Cola
3M
Ford
Bayer
Nokia
LG
PepsiCo
Microsoft
General Electric
Airbus
Nissan
Bosch
HP
Cisco

There my research ended as I got bored. I would say any multinational with a presence in Thailand (including the one I work for) will be 100% foreign owned through BOI. No way will they risk having a controlling local partner.

Edited February 14 by josephbloggs

[Mike Lister]

2 minutes ago, josephbloggs said:

 

There are bajillions, including:

Toyota Motor Company

Nestle
Unilever
Honda
Siemens
P&G
Mitsubishi
Shell
DHL
IBM
Mitsubishi
Samsung
Coca Cola
3M
Ford
Bayer
Nokia
LG
PepsiCo
Microsoft
General Electric
Airbus
Nissan
Bosch
HP
Cisco

There my research ended as I got bored.

 

I just picked one at random, I think they are all mostly the same or very similar:

 

Thailand Mitsubishi Company (Thailand) Ltd. / Thai-MC ...

Mitsubishi Corporation
https://www.mitsubishicorp.com › ...
Mitsubishi Company (Thailand) Ltd. is a wholly-owned Thai subsidiary of Mitsubishi Corporation, a general trading company of Japan. Thai-MC Company Limited, ...
‎Contact Us · ‎About Us · ‎Career · ‎Locations

 

I think that company is 51% Thai owned but is a subsidiary of its parent in Japan.

 

The same is true of CIMB bank which is a Thai company, ditto UOB.

 

 

 

 

[Mike Lister]

13 minutes ago, FritsSikkink said:

Have a look here: ○ BOI : The Board of Investment of Thailand

See {Page 10 from your link:

 

Criteria for foreign shareholding
The Board stipulates the following criteria for foreign shareholding in projects that apply for investment promotion:
1. For projects in activities under List One annexed to the Foreign Business Act, B.E. 2542, Thai nationals must hold
shares totaling not less than 51% of the registered capital.

[Mike Lister]

There is one exception to the above which is shown in the link below but it is very limited and very restrictive.

 

https://thailand.acclime.com/formation/foreign-business-license/

[josephbloggs]

22 minutes ago, Mike Lister said:

There is one exception to the above which is shown in the link below but it is very limited and very restrictive.

 

https://thailand.acclime.com/formation/foreign-business-license/

That is talking about Foreign Business Licenses (FBL) for non BOI companies which is very difficult. If you get BOI privileges you can be 100% foreign owned. We applied for BOI with 100% foreign ownership, no Thai shareholders at all, and we got it. Since then we have also received a FBL for non BOI activities. Granted it can't be for protected industries.

Is there a reason for your question or are you just curious?

[Mike Lister]

32 minutes ago, josephbloggs said:

That is talking about Foreign Business Licenses (FBL) for non BOI companies which is very difficult. If you get BOI privileges you can be 100% foreign owned. We applied for BOI with 100% foreign ownership, no Thai shareholders at all, and we got it. Since then we have also received a FBL for non BOI activities. Granted it can't be for protected industries.

Is there a reason for your question or are you just curious?

It was the OP who asked the question initially then later, you posted a list of companies you believe are foreign owned. I continue to think that list comprises foreign company names but in Thailand they are Thai companies that are 51% owned by Thai's, albeit the shareholding may favor the parent overseas. At this point it's just curiosity.

[josephbloggs]

13 minutes ago, Mike Lister said:

It was the OP who asked the question initially then later, you posted a list of companies you believe are foreign owned. I continue to think that list comprises foreign company names but in Thailand they are Thai companies that are 51% owned by Thai's, albeit the shareholding may favor the parent overseas. At this point it's just curiosity.

Ah yes, sorry, I mixed you up with the OP. Was asking his reason as we may be able to tailor advice for him based on why or what he wants to know.

I don't know for sure of course, but I am fairly certain they are all 100% foreign owned. I just can't see that any of those huge multinationals would have a majority Thai partner - it is asking for trouble. And with the kind of investments they are making the BOI would welcome them with open arms, absolutely.

I've randomly searched a few from my list on the BOI database and they are all there. That database used to tell you the ownership and registered capital but now it doesn't.

[FritsSikkink]

1 hour ago, Mike Lister said:

 

I just picked one at random, I think they are all mostly the same or very similar:

 

Thailand Mitsubishi Company (Thailand) Ltd. / Thai-MC ...

Mitsubishi Corporation
https://www.mitsubishicorp.com › ...
Mitsubishi Company (Thailand) Ltd. is a wholly-owned Thai subsidiary of Mitsubishi Corporation, a general trading company of Japan. Thai-MC Company Limited, ...
‎Contact Us · ‎About Us · ‎Career · ‎Locations

 

I think that company is 51% Thai owned but is a subsidiary of its parent in Japan.

 

 

 

It doesn't say that: wholly-owned Thai subsidiary of Mitsubishi Corporation

[FritsSikkink]

1 hour ago, Mike Lister said:

See {Page 10 from your link:

 

Criteria for foreign shareholding
The Board stipulates the following criteria for foreign shareholding in projects that apply for investment promotion:
1. For projects in activities under List One annexed to the Foreign Business Act, B.E. 2542, Thai nationals must hold
shares totaling not less than 51% of the registered capital.

Boi companies can be fully owned by foreigners as is the one I am working for (non American company).

Several of our customers (multinationals) are so too.

Edited February 14 by FritsSikkink

[Mike Lister]

2 minutes ago, FritsSikkink said:

Boi companies can be fully owned by foreigners as is the one I am working for (non American company).

You may well be correct, I'm just trying to understand it all. Take UOB (Thai) for example: 

 

https://www.uob.co.th/investor-en/aboutUOB/about-us-uob-corporate-profile.page

 

UOB Thai is a 100% Thai company with a Thai Board, even UOB banks in other countries don't recognise Thai customers as their customers. Yet the info on their web page suggests otherwise. 

 

"As part of UOB, United Overseas Bank (Thai) PCL (“UOB (Thai)”) is a regional bank rooted in Thailand that brings financial expertise and connectivity to its customers".

[FritsSikkink]

10 minutes ago, Mike Lister said:

You may well be correct, I'm just trying to understand it all. Take UOB (Thai) for example: 

 

https://www.uob.co.th/investor-en/aboutUOB/about-us-uob-corporate-profile.page

 

UOB Thai is a 100% Thai company with a Thai Board, even UOB banks in other countries don't recognise Thai customers as their customers. Yet the info on their web page suggests otherwise. 

 

"As part of UOB, United Overseas Bank (Thai) PCL (“UOB (Thai)”) is a regional bank rooted in Thailand that brings financial expertise and connectivity to its customers".

Singapore owns the majority (99.6) of the shares:

MAJOR SHAREHOLDERS (uob.co.th)

Some of the names of the board of directors suggest non Thai nationalities:

BOARD OF DIRECTORS (uob.co.th)

Edited February 14 by FritsSikkink

[Mike Lister]

1 hour ago, FritsSikkink said:

Singapore owns the majority (99.6) of the shares:

MAJOR SHAREHOLDERS (uob.co.th)

Some of the names of the board of directors suggest non Thai nationalities:

BOARD OF DIRECTORS (uob.co.th)

Yes indeed, Singapore does own 99.6% of the shares.

 

But this is the issue is not, they are 100% Thai companies in Thailand but their shareholding is almost 100% overseas ownership. Does that make them foreign owned companies or Thai companies? A UOB Thai customer has no recourse to Singapore and cannot use the UOB brand outside Thailand. UOB Thai creates it's own products, determines it's own strategy and branch network in Thailand and is not reliant on anything from Singapore other than the brand name.

[FritsSikkink]

24 minutes ago, Mike Lister said:

Yes indeed, Singapore does own 99.6% of the shares.

 

But this is the issue is not, they are 100% Thai companies in Thailand but their shareholding is almost 100% overseas ownership. Does that make them foreign owned companies or Thai companies? A UOB Thai customer has no recourse to Singapore and cannot use the UOB brand outside Thailand. UOB Thai creates it's own products, determines it's own strategy and branch network in Thailand and is not reliant on anything from Singapore other than the brand name.

It is a Thai company owned by foreigners as per question of the OP and there are many more.