April 2, 200817 yr you'll notice these 'foreign' companies like Tesco and Carrefour (which of course are Thai really as they must have Thai majnority ownership) Tesco Lotus in Thailand is 100% British owned after CP group sold their stake. In Thailand they are operated by a Thai company; Ek-Chai Distribution in order to keep in line with Thailand's foreign business laws. I didn't know that. How does work then? Are they a BOI case with a waiver to offload Thai shareholder requirements - or does Ek-Chai Distribution own Lotus and thus become a majority shareholder of 'Tesco-Lotus (Thai) LTD' or whatever it's called?
April 9, 200817 yr Does anyone know of a good book or other source of reliable information about Thailand's policy towards foreigners? Having lived abroad for 10 years, the closest I can come is this: People that come to Thailand on vacation with spouse/family don't come back often and if they do, it is for a short time. There are a huge number of sex/marriage tourists that like the environment here and decide to live and die here based on the environment and economics. Some of these have considerable money. Most fall asleep, become pods and start to justify xenophobic behavior and forget that Thailand is nothing like a truly developed country. Then there are the scumbags that come for sex, children and drugs. Some become teachers and many live in bars. Finally the charitable and missionaries that are mostly shielded from true day to day life because they associate with and draw funds from a rich western source. I don't know that Thailand is attracting any investors. Only those that already want to live here because they married a Thai girl and have extra money with which to play. It seems that Thailand can clamp down all they want on visas and laws about ownership because it only makes the scumbags/dabblers leave and those with enough money aren't affected. New laws seem to be encouraging actual investment as opposed to the all-to-common 'foreigner falls in lust, foreigner buys house and car in girls name, foreigner leaves and loses it all'.
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