Buying A Business In Bangkok

[Sunbelt Asia]

you should go into writing sci-fi books, too many stories,

by the way my friend did buy his business thru you!

Impossible if you're talking about a friend that bought a business for 10M and it was expected to make 1,200,000 a year. It was with Sunbelt Asia? No way! Be aware its in Thailand, its a criminal offense if you're making false accusations.

One million Baht reward if you bring your "friend" in my office on Monday and he bought a 10 million Baht company that was expected to make 100,000 profit a month and it folded in three months which was listed with Sunbelt Asia and he did the transfer with our office. No way, No how!

lots of bad business here just look at SUBWAY, always empty, should turn it into a massage & sex shop.

LOl. Too funny. Doccumented 2,525 customers per week is slow? Thats why after 7 months, were opening another Subway two blocks away from our current one. By the way it opens in 3 weeks on April 3rd.

Guess the 168,000 in royality we paid on average every month for the last 3 months is my immagination. Along with the 7% Vat we paid on average of 52,000 Baht sales per day. Also the invoices on 640,000 baht in food supplies per month which the Thai government accepts to get a portion of the 7% Vat credit back. When you have the facts like I do, and we pay taxes like we do, then nothing to hide. Then its no contest troll.

Just don't be stating lies, or I may lose my humor. After all, you and I know you are having fun but some readers may just think you're serious.

Good advice on the sleep:-) Off to bed.

Greg Lange

Managing Director

Sunbelt Asia

[asinah]

Greg,

I agree with most of your posting to peterexpat but have some comments:

People that know me know that we value our reputation which is based on honesty

In business is no honesty ! Full stop

In the past 21 months, 1005 businesses listed with our company, the Thai Sellers owned 732 of the businesses, as we had three times more Thai buyers than foreigners

Can you explain about those listings? Are those listings free? Do you charge for getting listed? Do the companies that list with you pay you for the listing in advance?

peterexpat posted: " They never retire! They leave the business to there family or relatives. "

That I will disagree with 100%. If I had listened to the same wisdom, we never would have expanded to Thailand. I was with Sunbelt for 18 years in the USA and now going on 2 years in Thailand. Nobody thought we could get listings in Thailand as they pass it on to their family. People asking my wife “If she loved me? How could she let me expand here?” Boy were they wrong! We are the #1 office in the World out of 389 offices. The average Sunbelt office in the States gets 28 listings in a year. We get that in some weeks! This week we had 17 new listings.  Why do people sell? You imply it must because something is wrong with their business. I can give you many cases that they sell for human reasons, divorce, partnership disputes, health, relocation and retirement.

I have to agree in part with peterexpat - They never retire and if they do they pass it on to their close relatives. If they do bring in foreigners it is mainly based on technology transfer and new capital.

As long the business has a good cashflow, Asian's are not selling off the business because they want to retire. They sell it of because of a lot of pressure from the banks or because they loose marketshare.

Greg, you mentioned if I had listened to the same wisdom, we never would have expanded to Thailand. Why? Sunbelt is a franchise and a company that has been around for 2 years in Thailand doesn't mean much.

Two years in Thailand is good for a warm-up in understanding the way business is done but it doesn't makes you an expert on Thai accounting or the corporate culture of Thailand.

I am happy to hear that you have 1005 listings but how many deals have actually been closed?

The average Sunbelt office in the States gets 28 listings in a year.

What would interest me is how do they actually recover the franchise fees or do they make a profit on the listing fees?

An electrical generator manufacture company, one of the largest in Thailand.

I think if you say that your company is 100% confidential you wouldn't post that kind of information on a public forum about one of the largest aircon manafucturers in Thailand.

Successful Bangkok Transportation Company has been is existence for almost 20 years

Tell me one transportation company in Bangkok that is successful? They all swim in debts and hope for better times but lets hope that our current Bangkok Governor Samak will be soon history and it will be great for all bus companies in Bangkok.

Three or four star resorts

I come from the Tourism industry and I can easy say I know 85% of all owners in those 4 and 5 star hotels and resorts. (Not the mangement but the owners)

They all face challenges and the banks are on their tails.

Of 121 businesses acquired with us last year. I can tell you 119 good stories. Two bad…

This is excellent !!!

In Thailand, I feel that’s been the biggest shock to me on how many companies have good books versus the West. Much higher in Thailand. I must say its more foreign companies than Thai ones though but still around half paid their fair share of taxes. Must be the Thai prisons! However many other ways to find out if a  business is good without looking at tax records.

Laughing out Loud ! I am not sure where you got those details but I know many foreign companies that have clean books. OK, the companies I am talking about are companies with a minimum paid-up capital of 10 million Baht and I totally want to ignore those foreigners that run tailorshops (they never pay taxes), Internet cafe's, web hosting companies, bars etc. that are run by expats or Thai's.

Now, I have seen many Thai companies that too have a paid-up capital of 10 million Baht but they have screwed and cheated on taxes from the day they opened for business.

BTW: Thaksin Shinawatra is the first PM that seems to be able to be more on the balls of the tax scams and I appreciate him for that.

[asinah]

A friend bought a business for 10m baht,seen the books etc, business folded after 3 months- revenue was promised at 100,000 baht a month but in reality was only 10,000 baht.

Peterexpat,

How much was the profit? To buy a business for 10 million Baht on a 100,000B monthly revenue is crazy.

The selling price should have been more at Baht 1 million at most. Was it a joke or did he really paid 10m?

Amazing but I guess the buyer must have been nuts too.

Ok, me too off to bed now !

[Totoro]

Hi

Thanks for all your comments, its getting very confusing with all the different views and a lot of them second hand i.e. I know someone that......

Are there any people that have got or have had a business that can post their experiences, good or bad?

If you have or have had a successful business in Thailand what were the factors that made it a success, what sectors are good to get into, what advise can you give someone from your experiences?

Likewise if you have had a business that has failed what were the reasons for this, did you get a raw deal when you bought the business or were there other third party factors that were beyond your control?

I have a few ideas for a start-up company in the "service sector" but I would initially like to buy a business that is up and running to give me a monthly income to live off and is relatively secure.

Thanks for all your help

Totoro

[dr_Pat_Pong]

you should go into writing sci-fi books, too many stories,

by the way my friend did buy his business thru you!

Impossible if you're talking about a friend that bought a business for 10M and it was expected to make 1,200,000 a year. It was with Sunbelt Asia? No way! Be aware its in Thailand, its a criminal offense if you're making false accusations.

One million Baht reward if you bring your "friend" in my office on Monday and he invested 10 million Baht in a company that was expected to make 100,000 profit a month and it folded in three months, that was listed with Sunbelt Asia. No way, No how!

lots of bad business here just look at SUBWAY, always empty, should turn it into a massage & sex shop.

LOl. Too funny. Doccumented 2,525 customers per week is slow? Thats why after 7 months, were opening another Subway two blocks away from our current one. By the way it opens in 3 weeks on April 3rd. Guess the 168,000 in royality we paid on average every month for the last 3 months is my immagination. Along with the 7% Vat we paid on average of 52,000 Baht sales per day or the invoices on 640,000 baht in food supplies per month which the Thai government accepted to get a portion of the 7% Vat credit back. When you have the facts like I do, and we pay taxes like we do, then nothing to hide. Then its no contest troll.

Just don't be stating lies, or I may lose my humor. After all, you and I know you are having fun but some readers may just think you're serious.

Good advice on the sleep:-) Off to bed.

Greg Lange

Managing Director

Sunbelt Asia

Ignore the trollers Greg. The witless profit prophets are not worth the bother.

[Sunbelt Asia]

"In business is no honesty!"

In business people make choices. Either to look at the short term or the long term. In our business, if you ever lost trust with the buyer or seller, can’t imagine even getting one business transfer done. We’ll always are going to do it the honest way and I’m happy with the results.

"Can you explain about those listings?"

Affirming our commitment to business owners, our services are provided on a FREE-OF-CHARGE, NO-OBLIGATION basis to them. Only if their company is sold, does Sunbelt earn a fee, which is earned on a success basis. This is to say, if they are successful in having their business acquired, their company pays our fees at closing. If not, they know in advance what the costs will be… ZERO!

"those listings free?"

Yes

"Do you charge for getting listed?"

Never

"Do the companies that list with you pay you for the listing in advance? "

Never

"have to agree in part with peterexpat - They never retire and if they do they pass it on to their close relatives."

Not in all cases. Yes maybe 95% but on 5% you’re still talking a lot of good businesses.

"As long the business has a good cashflow, Asian's are not selling off the business because they want to retire. They sell it of because of a lot of pressure from the banks or because they loose marketshare."

I disagree 100%

"Two years in Thailand is good for a warm-up in understanding the way business is done but it doesn't makes you an expert on Thai accounting or the corporate culture of Thailand."

You are correct. On accounting, it didn’t take long to figure out every Thai accountant has a different idea on how to book expenses. I leave it to my wife to the business culture. She has been an invaluable asset. Her biggest merger transfer was 13.2 Billion Baht ( USD$325 million) I have never and will probably never in my lifetime expect to top that.

"I am happy to hear that you have 1005 listings but how many deals have actually been closed? "

On average in our industry, one in five will close. Forty people will express interest in a business before it’s acquired.

"What would interest me is how do they actually recover the franchise fees or do they make a profit on the listing fees?"

Sunbelt never has listing fees. The only way to have a successful transfer is to have a happy buyer and seller. Then the individual office gets paid. Corporate does not get a share of any fee.

Sunbelt corporate does not charge a royalty. We as franchises are unique in that the individual offices bought out the Sunbelt Headquarters and own it. The original founder is still CEO but were the boss now. Headquarters will never make a profit from the semi-annual fee, any and all excess revenue is spent on support and marketing for the offices worldwide.

"I think if you say that your company is 100% confidential you wouldn't post that kind of information on a public forum about one of the largest aircon manafucturers in Thailand."

Yes thats always a concern. They can’t be “Googled.” I checked before posting and the Seller is comfortable with the blind advert. we have on our site www.sunbeltasia.com

"Tell me one transportation company in Bangkok that is successful? They all swim in debts and hope for better times but lets hope that our current Bangkok Governor Samak will be soon history and it will be great for all bus companies in Bangkok."

I know one! :-) This successful Bangkok Transportation Company has been in existence for almost 20 years, and has a total fleet of 24 buses. There are utilised three inter province routes. The assets are extremely valuable, and the estimated worth is over 43,000,000 baht. Profits of over 17,500,000 baht are being realised, from annual receipts of 87,800,000 baht. However, the owner has run this business for a long time now, since inception, and feels that it is time to retire.

By the way, I understand a foreigner cannot own this business(Amity or BOI). Only can be owned by a Thai.

"I come from the Tourism industry and I can easy say I know 85% of all owners in those 4 and 5 star hotels and resorts. (Not the mangement but the owners)

They all face challenges and the banks are on their tails."

Hotels can make up to 65% on gross margins in Thailand without debt service. If they borrowed before the crisis US Dollars which many of them. The bank of course is on their tail now just like when the banks were breaking down the doors before 1997 begging the hotels to borrow. Hotels can be very profitable but be careful of debt service if its in USD.

"Laughing out Loud ! "

Is that to the Thai prisons? :-)

"I am not sure where you got those details but I know many foreign companies that have clean books. OK, the companies I am talking about are companies with a minimum paid-up capital of 10 million Baht and I totally want to ignore those foreigners that run tailorshops (they never pay taxes), Internet cafe's, web hosting companies, bars etc. that are run by expats or Thai's.

Now, I have seen many Thai companies that too have a paid-up capital of 10 million Baht but they have screwed and cheated on taxes from the day they opened for business."

I think we are saying the same thing. Many clean books but more from Expats than Thai owners. You ever notice though how some very prominent Thai businessmen just HATE to pay taxes? We strongly advocate paying taxes. It’s a dirty word to some people even to some expats.

Greg Lange

Managing Director

Sunbelt Asia

www.sunbeltasia.com

[asinah]

In business people make choices. Either to look at the short term or the long term. In our business, if you ever lost trust with the buyer or seller, can’t imagine even getting one business transfer done. We’ll always are going to do it the honest way and I’m happy with the results.

Yes, I guess in your business it is important to keep the credibility. If one deal turns sour it can have a great impact on your business in Thailand.

BTW: I didn't pointed or linked honesty against your company. I used the term as a general term about how business is done in Thailand.

Affirming our commitment to business owners, our services are provided on a FREE-OF-CHARGE, NO-OBLIGATION basis to them. Only if their company is sold, does Sunbelt earn a fee, which is earned on a success basis. This is to say, if they are successful in having their business acquired, their company pays our fees at closing. If not, they know in advance what the costs will be… ZERO!

Greg, your answer is straight forward and I am happy to say that you are different from those other brokers.

Not in all cases. Yes maybe 95% but on 5% you’re still talking a lot of good businesses.

I guess some how we mean the same things. Of course some owners of a business are retireing or due to health reasons etc. I am running a small family business with my 2 daughters and we would never sell our business again, only of course if we need the funds to jump on a new project.

You are correct. On accounting, it didn’t take long to figure out every Thai accountant has a different idea on how to book expenses.  I leave it to my wife to the business culture. She has been an invaluable asset. Her biggest merger transfer was 13.2 Billion Baht ( USD$325 million) I have never and will probably never in my lifetime expect to top that. 

I like your answer. Certain things I too never understood, so I am always taking feedback or request my daughters to handle certain transactions in Indonesia, Brunei and Malaysia because A/C are handled in the Bahasa language (except Malaysia).

If I needed any feedback on a Thai company, I just call the BBL owners and they do the digging for me because when it comes to Thai accounting you have to see the official books and the unofficial books.

On average in our industry, one in five will close. Forty people will express interest in a business before it’s acquired

I guess that is a very high number of around 20% in closings and you should be able to do very well in the future.

The bank of course is on their tail now just like when the banks were breaking down the doors before 1997 begging the hotels to borrow. Hotels can be very profitable but be careful of debt service if its in USD

Most hotels that I know, have problems and were dumped by the Top5 inbound operators (It works like this : The property has a 150 rooms and the inbound operator allots 1/2 of all rooms. If the operators doesn't send tourists every day the hotel don't care due to the fact that the rooms have been taken. (Those deals are mainly signed next week at the ITB fair, and as well at the ATF and London Travel Mart. Those three fairs generate 70% of all potential revenues for any resort at a tourism destination.

(In Bangkok the number is even higher for business from tour operators and that's why the official name of the hotels that have a Swiss, German or Austrian Manager work closely with those Swiss, German or Austrian Manager of the inbound operators) -

They are known in the industry as the German Speaking Tourism Mafia that can break any hotel property if they don't get what they want.

Is that to the Thai prisons? :-)

The reason why I use LOL was that I never heard any Thai was ever jailed for tax invasions and you pointed to prisons.

All the best to your business and happy Songkran next month.

Regards,

Wolfgang

[Crash999]

I firmly believe that’s why an existing business has a much higher success than starting one up. You acquire a business that satisfies existing unfulfilled demand and still has growth. What a HUGE advantage.

Case in point. 35 year old electric generator company which has been successful every year and survived the crisis in 97. Their daughter wants to continue her profession not be in manufacturing. Weak in sales and marketing but their factory has backlogs not able to keep up with the demand. The new owner will have a huge advantage versus starting one up because of their reputation and demand from the state railroad.

Second case in point: Fire Safety Company. Established over 20 years ago. The current owner has stomach cancer and wanted to take care of his employees for the future. The law was passed last year that all public buildings had to have fire extinguishers. Their sales skyrocket higher last year. New owner will do very well using their reputation and capitalizing on their demand.

Third case in point. I could go on and on about other existing business cases but on this point I would use a start-up as an exception and one example. Exports are white hot now. There is unfulfilled demand for the high quality made products in Thailand. If you have distribution channels set up beforehand, you could do very well.

Hi Greg,

I agree with you in that I believe that buying an existing business is often a more preferable option to starting one from nothing, especially if it is capital-intensive. For service industries it becomes easier to start from scratch as the founder often acts like a freelance consultant and forms a company around his skills/services. But it's a long hard slog starting from zero, and new management in an existing company can radically change the company's prospects.

Of course there are always solid reasons why people are selling their business, and the reasons told to a potential buyer are never "the industry is in decline and in 2005 we predict a loss of 30% of revenue" or "our strong connection at our largest customer is about to retire and his successor is close to our competitor" or "anti-dumping duty is under consideration in our export market".... After all, if the business was so lucrative as it stood the current owner would find a way to keep things going.

Certainly a lot of due diligence must be conducted in order to determine the true health of the company. An important step is figuring out what the new owner will bring to the table- what he/she will do to improve the company and ensure it's survival in the future. Foreigners can bring technical knowledge, operations knowledge, and marketing knowledge to the table. The latter is close to my industry- manufacturing and export- and I've seen a lot of companies with farang export managers do very well, as they're usually more capable of understanding customer demands.

Then the focus is on price. You wrote the norm for acquisition is 2.5 times earnings- to me this seems very low as that translates to a 40% return on investment, factoring in zero future growth for the company. In my industry we're constantly hunting for acquisition, and we're looking at around 7-8x EBITDA. I know that there are many investment funds looking for good returns here in SE Asia, though they always seem to be looking at investing and standing back, without management assistance- something which I think is an overlooked opportunity....

Your two cases are interesting. Both business rely on domestic demand to keep the company healthy- my concern would be as a farang owner/manager how can I ensure that the relationships that exist now are going to be preserved when I take over. Having a relationship with customers is key- and relying fully on a local marketing rep to control my source of income would be too scary for me.

Some very interesting posts on this thread.... Time to read on.

Cheers!

[Crash999]

The Heinike family has been rich from the start. I know Bill and Skip very well and many of those stories are press stuff.

One of the biggest revenues and profit comes in from the Pizza Co and he makes good money as an exclusive representative for the Piper airplane manufactuer.

.. but any way, he is a great business guy and I love those battles he had with Pizza Hut.

I had heard the same about the Heinecke family- that they were wealthy and the father funded the son's many businesses, not all of which were successful. When I did a search a few minutes ago I found a story that made the whole thing out to be a miraculous rags to riches story.

Yeah the Pizza Hut battle is a great one- shutting the whole operation down and opening up his own. The guy shares a passion of mine, racing, so he can't be too bad of a guy.

Cheers!

[Sunbelt Asia]

Hi Wolfgang,

Thank you and Happy Singkran to you and your family as well.

I was thinking if their could possibly be any other client that I was forgetting, if they were not "happy" I did come up with one more...We had one case where a gentleman bought a restaurant that has been established for 16 years. The price was 1.8 million. The rent is great only 50,000 Baht a month for 300 Sq.M versus next door they are getting 600,000 per month for the same space. It had a feel of old Thailand with the old looking knick knacks and furniture. To be fair, I really came close to buying this myself as I felt it was a great value with the antiques but simply had no time. The buyer had it appraised and the antiques were worth if I remember correctly around 450,000 Baht. Still it was a Landmark as a tourist place. Rent alone was worth the difference if not any of the 16 years good will and the location being near Asoke Subway.

The first month he owned it he had hip surgury and was not around. He told me that he was going to give it some time but really wanted to turn it into a bar as that was his background for most of his life. He was unhappy of the high food wastage unlike the bar business. He started renovating before high season and has already started the process. I spoke with him three weeks ago and he was fine, not jumping up and down with glee but more neutral. Just depends how his bar turns out. I never critique a management style but for me, I would of went through high season to make the baht and the new office building open up before start renovations but thats me.

So to be fair lets make it 118 out of 121 cases that are successful from last year.

[Sunbelt Asia]

Then the focus is on price. You wrote the norm for acquisition is 2.5 times earnings- to me this seems very low as that translates to a 40% return on investment, factoring in zero future growth for the company. In my industry we're constantly hunting for acquisition, and we're looking at around 7-8x EBITDA. I know that there are many investment funds looking for good returns here in SE Asia, though they always seem to be looking at investing and standing back, without management assistance- something which I think is an overlooked opportunity....

On small business in the States, I found the mutiple 2.5x to hold up great over the years. Last year it was 2.36x for over 80,000 companies. Service of couse will have a lower mutiple than a factory but overall 2.5x works great. Dotcom use to be an exception, in 2000 it was 10x and Pluto. In Europe, it's another story which I understand, it's more like 5x.

Using this valuation, most would say businesses in Thailand are priced fairly. Most in fact include the equipment in that multiple but of course not real estate which would be additional.

Now saying that, sometimes you can throw those rules of thumbs out as Sellers are very motivated to move overseas and will even take less than 2 times earnings. On the other hand like last night an expat wants 5 times earnings for a picture company as he feels he has developed the trade name and feels it worth that premium. But as a general rule, buyers will bid 2 times, Sellers will ask 3 times and the agreement is struck at 2.5 times earnings. This is equivalent to a return of 40% per year.

my concern would be as a farang owner/manager how can I ensure that the relationships that exist now are going to be preserved when I take over. Having a relationship with customers is key- and relying fully on a local marketing rep to control my source of income would be too scary for me.

Good question.

Overall, you always will want to make sure the key employees stay. One way some buyers have done to ensure this is to create phantom stock so the key employees get a share of the profits after several years.

The main way, the owner will sign a contract that he will stay on and pass on his contacts and train. A final payment of 10% of the purchase price held in escrow can ensure he does this. He will introduce you to all the contacts the first several weeks. Its important to have a assistant you can trust who can translate. White faces seem to bring value to a companies prestige and are welcome with open arms. The buyers you will be working with, will feel new technology will be coming in and Western knowledge.

I know Bill as well. Had heard he was a real bear but found him to be delightful at that time. Was in his office for most of one morning.

However in the last couple months we've been on different sides. We had a signed lease by his lawyer at the Royal Garden Plaza and had given a deposit of 1.5 million. Bill felt three sandwiches chains. Burger King, McDonalds and Subway was too much so they veto the lease. We just felt their senior mgmt should of visited our store first before accepting our deposit and having a signed lease. The veto came after feasibility studies, floorplans and equipment was ordered. Not too many International lawyers were too keen to go head to head for our rights except one. Oh well, time to live another day.

[Crash999]

But as a general rule, buyers will bid 2 times, Sellers will ask 3 times and the agreement is struck at 2.5 times earnings. This is equivalent to a return of 40% per year.

From your observations, is the same multiple holding true for manufacturing companies? Seems like their higher asset values would translate to higher valuations.

The main way, the owner will sign a contract that he will stay on and pass on his contacts and train. A final payment of 10% of the purchase price held in escrow can ensure he does this. He will introduce you to all the contacts the first several weeks. Its important to have a assistant you can trust who can translate. White faces seem to bring value to a companies prestige and are welcome with open arms. The buyers you will be working with, will feel new technology will be coming in and Western knowledge.

I'd still feel concerned if the revenue stream was derived from the domestic market, especially relying on business to business or business to government transactions. There is such a reliance on personal relationships here and I've not yet seen a case whereby a farang has been able to establish the same connections that seem so important for Thais. Of course reading that most of the businesses are purchased by Thais makes this a relatively moot point.

However in the last couple months we've been on different sides. We had a signed lease by his lawyer at the Royal Garden Plaza and had given a deposit of 1.5 million.  Bill felt three sandwiches chains. Burger King, McDonalds and Subway was too much so they veto the lease.

Rather than use lawyers, can't you make a personal appeal to Bill? I don't agree with his decision- if you were opening a Wendy's then I could see his point, but Subway has somewhat of a different customer base than the burger chains and nearby Pizza Company so I see it as a complimentary business, not competitive. Au Bon Pain might not like the competition, though....

I thought about Royal Garden being a great place for a Subway too... in fact the location of the current Haagen Daaz outlet (which rarely seems busy) looks like a perfect spot. The next best places are where the Starbucks are- near Hopf house not far from Royal Garden and down by walking street.

Good luck!

[asinah]

I know Bill as well. Had heard he was a real bear but found him to be delightful at that time. Was in his office for most of one morning.

I think Bill is one of the tuffest guys I ever met in business. Our deal went sour with Minor Corp. because of Skip, his younger brother that approved and run the finances at the time. After 5 meetings and a waste of time I finally decided to stop pushing for the deal and a year later they contacted me again and said they wanted to go ahead because by that time I had already 200 hotel properties as my clients and the only one missing was Royal Garden Resorts.

The reason why they didn't went ahead with a deal was because we were just established in Thailand and they wanted to make sure that we are still in business a year later.

I'd still feel concerned if the revenue stream was derived from the domestic market, especially relying on business to business or business to government transactions.

Yes, I too.

In 1997 I sold my Thai company to a UK Telecom operator for a lot of money.

At the time of the MoU the British MD was at war with the Thai shareholders and verbally shouted words at the bankers family that I only said "I have to get out of that deal" because I didn't wanted to be associated to the MD.

The MD delayed 4 months all payments and contract signing because I called the Thai Chairman of the company and told him, you guys come up with the money or I inform the clients of what is going on in this company and take my business back.

I left the company but made sure that I leave on good terms with the Thai partners.

A few days later I received a lawyer letter and a request to repay the downpayment of 50,000 USD from E&Y (I hate thoseTop5). This letter was issued on instruction by the English MD and I told them, guys you can have my business for the 50k and I walk away and informed my clients that I am no longer more handling the support (my clients had 24 hours access to me).

My clients (around 70 of them paying an average of Baht 9000B per month) told me that they will expire the contracts and sign a new deal at a later time.

Two weeks later the Thai partner (banker) called me and asked me to run his operation in Hong Kong and I said let's first settle the old issue before I start on a new venture.

Then he told me in fact I want you take your assets back and the 50k USD is a gift of friendship under the condition if you ever file charges against the British company keep the Thai partners out of it but do go after the British Telco company and make them bleed.

It was those Thai bankers that told me get the hack out of Thailand and move to Hong Kong or Southern China were opportunities are on every corner and my technical skills are an asset and you will be more appreciated as by the Thai's.

(BTW: Those bankers are Thai's but they were right on that issue as it took me two years to recover from 97)

What happend to the English MD? He tried his best in Thailand but once you are the enemy of the bankers in Thailand it even effected his new business startup that folded a year later. Oh, yes he also was fired by the UK Telco because the Thai partners told the UK Telco Co fire him completly or we cancel the joint venture and write off the investment.

I had all my clients on my side and they resigned one by one from the MNC because of my close relationship with those clients and when I promised them revenues from the Internet and they got it.

Today I no longer deal more with those hotels and resorts but always keep a good relationship with the owners of the hotels and most of them still ask me hey when can we join back with you but I just smile and tell them sorry guys but I am in Thailand for holidays and not chasing the dragons for opportunties.

[wcr]

totoro

I've just started reading this very interesting thread. Briefly, my story. I came here one year ago and bought a small car rental business in Pattaya from another English guy. He had owned it for 5 years and needed to sell to get capital to buy land to build on. So I made a spur of the moment choice and paid a deposit, went home and sold up in the UK. Came back a month later. I took over the business and an established client base of long term expat renters. I was earning from day one, important. As I have gained experience I have changed many things about the business, but still have a couple of my original customers with me.

Yes there are many cowboys over here, I was lucky. There are many legitimate business'e too. I do believe that you make your own luck too. I knew this business was safe as I had the cars to sell if it went tits up and I would get back 90%+ of my investment. My business has grown and I have a big demand for cars which I am unable to supply at present due to lack of funds. I have listed my business with Sunbelt looking for a partner.

Talk to Sunbelt abiout the companys they have listed. Look around elsewhere to. Gut feeling is a good instinct, if it feels right, and you have done due diligence by checking everything out, the chances are it will be right for you and you will make money. Good luck, don't be put off by the doom and gloom bandits on this board, there are a lot of successful farang here, working in thier own business's, but there are also a lot of people who have lost money too. Just make sure you keep your head screwed on TIGHTLY!!!