Doing Business in Thailand

Three years after its enactment in August 2006 the requirement of disclosure of Thai shareholders source of investment at the time of company incorporation is still confusing many foreign investors who do not always understand when and why do Thai shareholders have to disclose the source of their investment when they invest into a company with foreign investors. In this article i do not address the issue of when a foreigner may or may not own more than 49% of a business in Thailand.

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Originally posted 2009-10-21 01:47:12.

In this post we will discuss the voting rights of shareholders at the shareholder meeting of a Thai limited company depending of the amount of their shareholding.

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Originally posted 2009-11-23 04:47:10.

One thing I find interesting when blogging is that Google and WordPress have tools that permit me not only to check what articles are the most successful but also the search queries of my blog readers. Now when looking at the queries I notice that there is still a lot of confusion among readers as to definition of legal concepts such as Thai or Foreign Private Limited Company and nominees. I tried hereinafter to clarify those concepts.

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Originally posted 2009-10-07 04:38:15.

The Business Development Department (BDB) which is the unit of the Ministry of Commerce that is handling new companies registration just issued the updated figures of new companies registration at end of October 2009. Overall 2009 was even worth than 2008 but there are reasons to expect better results next year

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Originally posted 2009-12-05 01:48:19.

The second option available to a foreign investor who wants to start a business in Thailand is to register a trading commercial legal vehicle (for example a subsidiary under the form of a Limited Company or a branch of a foreign company). [this post is an updated draft that replace one of my first posts]

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Originally posted 2009-10-16 02:09:26.

The Private Limited Company is the most common legal vehicle used by foreign investors in Thailand, it is therefore useful to review its main characteristics. Note that this post do not deal in an exhaustive manner with the matter of the characteristic of a Private Limited Company. There is a lot more to say. In this post we limited ourselves to the characteristics which are a matter of concern for foreign investors.

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Originally posted 2009-10-19 02:22:16.

According to the yearly study of the World Bank “Doing Business 2010″ Thailand ranks 12th out of 183 friendly countries to do business. As a professional which role is to assist foreign investors doing business in Thailand I should welcome any such survey. I mean the friendlier Thailand looks to foreign investor the better it is for my business.

Note that tomorrow I will conclude with my “Buying a Business” posts series

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Originally posted 2009-09-10 03:28:25.

In a previous post I explained step by step the formalities to incorporate a Thai Limited Company. Many readers have contacted me to request whether I could also post the english translation of Thai Limited Company most important documents for information. After the Memorandum of Association (please see previous post) please see below a translation of the Minutes of the Statutory Meeting. Please note that this is an unofficial translation only.

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Originally posted 2009-09-04 07:35:27.

What is the disclosure requirement?

The disclosure requirement was one of the measures taken by the Thai Government to avoid the use of Thai nominees by foreign investors. Since August 14th 2006, the Department of Business Development is compelled to require at time of incorporation of a company that the company Thai shareholders justify the source of their investment if certain circumstances are met.

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Originally posted 2009-07-24 10:40:28.

The private limited company is the legal vehicle that is the most commonly used by foreign investors in Thailand and we will hereinafter review the formalities of registration of a private limited company. In this article we will only review the conditions of incorporation of a Private Limited Company to the exclusion of nominees and Thai/foreign shareholders ratio which are discussed in other posts. [This post replace our previous post on the subject “How to register a company step by step”.

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Originally posted 2009-10-20 07:09:45.

Preference Shares are opposed to ordinary shares. In Thailand, ordinary shares like in most countries entitle their holders to a share of ownership of the company including a voting right (1 vote per share) and a right to the company dividend or the company benefit of liquidation.

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Originally posted 2009-11-24 03:04:41.

Why review the private limited company set-up?

The private limited company is the legal vehicle that is the most commonly used by foreign investors in Thailand that is why we will review hereinafter the formalities of registration of a private limited company.

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Originally posted 2009-07-24 11:17:21.

This is the third of a series of posts about Thai private limited company corporate documents translated in English.

The articles of associations of your company are another important corporate document of your company. As a matter of fact the decision on the content of the company articles of associations is actually taken during the statutory meeting.

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Originally posted 2009-09-07 10:22:26.

In a previous post I explained step by step the formalities to incorporate a Thai Limited Company. Many readers have contacted me to request whether I could also post the english translation of Thai Limited Company documents for information. Today and the next few days I will post the translations of the main corporate documents of a Thai Private Limited company. Please note that this is an unofficial translation only.

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Originally posted 2009-09-03 14:40:40.

There is a lot of confusion as to minimal capital requirements when doing business in Thailand and I will try to clarify this issue in this post.

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Originally posted 2009-09-28 05:31:43.

While companies are juristic persons and cannot be as such subject to the punishment of imprisonment it does not mean that a company may not be prosecuted for a criminal offence in Thailand. To the contrary, companies may be prosecuted the same way as individuals.

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Originally posted 2009-12-15 10:20:04.

The first option available to a foreign investor who wants to start a business in Thailand is to register a non-trading legal vehicle (for example Representative Office). Hereinafter we will discuss the characteristics on Non-Trading Legal Vehicles the most common of which is the Representative Office. [this post is an updated version that replace one of my first posts]

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Originally posted 2009-10-15 00:09:26.

Dear Readers,

Note that you can keep in touch with us and receive our daily post(s) about doing business, immigration, banking in Thailand and a lot more topics either:

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