More warrants out for fugitive finance chief in Fin-1 case

A state prosecutor last week asked the national police office to issue arrest warrants in four countries where the former managing director of Finance One Securities and Finance Plc, Pin Chakkrapak is believed to be trying to seek refuge from the pursuit of Thai officials.

Meanwhile, the prosecutor plans to hold talks with US officials here about the possibility of canceling Pin’s US passport.

Warrants will be issued in the US, China, England and Hong Kong. Pin will be extradited from those respective countries and territories if arrested, said Jullasingh Vasantasingh, deputy attorney-general for international jurisdiction. The state prosecutor’s office is also investigating the whereabouts of Pin, who is a US citizen by birth, in several other countries, Jullasingh said.

The fugitive boss was born ‘Pin Clifford Chakkrapak’ in Illinois. He moved into Thailand in 1990. Prosecutors said Pin also stands accused of money laundering, a violation of US law, which could to lead to cancellation of his travel documents.

Ch Karnchang strikes back

CK-AE Consortium started a print advertising campaign on Monday, October 4, to declare its stance over bids for the Bangkok International Airport development project, and to hit back against accusations that the consortium had played a foul game. CK-AE is amongst seven contractors bidding for the multi-million baht project.

CK AE was chosen by the Airport Authority of Thailand selection committee as the winner of the bid, as the company proposed the lowest bidding price. The committee also picked ITD-ATMH Consortium as the second bidder for price negotiations. But four other consortia, which include some foreign construction giants, said they were unfairly disqualified from the race. The committee said that the four companies had failed to present to guarantees from commercial banks.

CK-AE did not mention the point raised by the four competitors, but said instead that cancellation of the bidding had damaged the group’s good reputation.

ITD-ATMH, led by Ital-Thai Development Plc, was later dropped from the negotiation as it proposed a higher bidding price of Baht 6.9 billion, compared to the Baht 5.8 billion bid from CK-AE.

Competition heats up in premium beer market

Not only down-market beers compete fiercely, but premium beers, which include international brands, are now involved in fierce competition for an increased share of the highly lucrative market. Beck’s Brewery Co., a German-Thai joint venture, recently sent Beck’s bottles to the city’s major restaurants with a caravan of Beck’s Girls, in a plan to widen its drinker base.

Beck’s Girls, which get paid from Beck’s Brewery for every beer sold, are working side by side with restaurant waiters and waitresses to serve and cheer, as part of a new direct selling method. Beck’s is currently giving away an ice bucket and a beer glass to every purchase of four large Beck’s bottles. The German brewer, which entered the Thai market four years ago, shares less than 1% of the premium beer market, which is led by Heineken.

Heineken is now offering a CD holder as a premium to every purchase of 6 small bottles of the beer, but market observers predict the premium would attract few new drinkers.

Carlsberg and Kloster are preparing to do battle inside beer and food ‘garden restaurants’ during the late months of the year.

Swiss-based firm plans CD card production in Thailand

Negotiations have been underway between MIE (Thailand) and a Japanese electronic producer to produce in Thailand an advanced electronic card embedded with microchips. The card will be used in electronic payment systems, or E-purse, to be set up here by the group. The CD card, the size of a business card, will be used with a miniature CD-ROM player.

The future joint venture, which will also operate the first E-purse service in the Kingdom, which will also be the first in this region, will hopefully win about 15,000 customers in the year 2000, its first year of operation, said Larp-loy Vanichangkul, MIE program development manager. The Swiss parent, MIE, has patented the multimedia E-purse card, which can be re-programmed, he said.

The Thai MIE recently introduced Swiss-made electronic cards to the local market, targeting kitchenware producers, toy makers, and condominium operators as prospective customers. New E-cards for the mass market will be introduced next year.

The Swiss MIE also runs a commercial Web site providing information about more than 15,000 companies worldwide.

Dutch Ahold asked to bring Thai products to world market

Netherlands retail giant, Royal Ahold has been asked to bring Thai food products and other consumer goods to Ahold-operated shops in countries worldwide. Negotiations on possible cooperation between Thai producers, distributors, and the Dutch retailer will soon take place, said Kornpot Assawinvijit, deputy minister of commerce.

Talks between Allen S Noddle, an Ahold top executive, and the Thai minister took place during the latter’s visit to the Netherlands between September 29 and October 3. Kornpot said Thai products, especially seasoning items, have potential to grow in the world market. It would be a great opportunity if the Thai-made products took a place inside the Ahold-run stores throughout the world.

Royal Ahold, which is the majority-owner of Tops Supermarket in Thailand, currently runs 3,000-4,000 retailing outlets in several other countries, with a billing between US$40 billion and US$50 billion a year.

The Thailand commerce office in the US has been told to contact the Ahold purchasing center in Atlanta, Georgia.

Sony to produce DVD sets in Thailand

Sony Thai said it plans to produce digital video disc players in Thailand within the next 3 years, as sales here have grown rapidly. Sales of DVD players rose to 10,000 sets this year, and industry insiders anticipate sales will hit 50,000 sets a year by 2002, said Sony Thai managing director, Shinsuke Yoshida.

The declining prices of DVD software is among the reasons sited for helping to spur sales of the players. The price of a DVD movie disc is expected to fall to around Baht 500 or lower, from the current price of Baht 1,000 to Baht 1,400 a disc, Yoshida said. The price of a DVD player will also fall from its current price of about Baht 20,000, Yoshida said.

Sony of Japan is already using Thailand as a production base for its flat-screen TVs and Mini Disc players. Sony Thai said it is now leads the market, controlling 40% of local DVD segment, though competitors first came here three years ago.

Mitsubishi subsidiary and Loxinfo to form new ISP

Mitsubishi Information Network Corp. of Japan’s Mitsubishi Corp. has chosen Loxley Information Holding as its partner to form a new company to provide Internet services here. The Japanese group and the Thai communication firm will each hold 45% of the new company, Diamond Link Communications (Thailand), while a Thai national will hold the balance, said Masanori Osashi, MIND chairman.

MIND, one of about 4,000 ISPs currently in Japan, services more than 2,000 organizational customers back home, while its subsidiary, Dream Train Co. is now servicing 200,000 business-to-consumer accounts, Osashi said.

MIND’s experience back home could win the heart of about 1,300 Japanese companies, as well as other foreign establishments in Thailand, said Vivatvong Vijitvhadhakarn, Loxinfo managing director. Loxinfo plans to bridge the ‘business culture’ gap for the Japanese partner here.

There are 30,000 to 40,000 Japanese nationals currently living or working in Thailand. Loxinfo Internet currently has 27,000 customers.

Major hotel chains eye Rayong

New hotels by major management chains will make the eastern province of Rayong, which recently experienced a boom in tourism, a new battle ground in the industry. The local chamber of commerce fears that more hotel rooms will make this traditionally quiet city a second Pattaya. There are already 7,000 to 8,000 rooms in the province, which, they say, is already enough for 2 million tourists each year.

The Kanary Bay Group, formed by local hoteliers, said they were about to build a 400-room, five star hotel on Moonlight Beach, a major attraction on the country’s eastern shoreline. Meanwhile, major management chains, which include Central Hotel & Resource and other international hotel groups, are moving into the province.

More European tourists have frequented Rayong this year, and the total number of tourists to visit the province is expected to be an estimated 2.3 million by the end of the year.

There are no regulations in place in Rayong to curb rapid growth in the hotel industry there. However, it is feared that too many hotel rooms will lead to serious environmental problems.

PC-Internet bundles in chaos chip prices soar

The prices of “ready add-on memory” units, RAM, have skyrocketed 300% to 600% over the past few weeks. These rising costs have forced Internet service providers and their PC maker partners to immediately stop their bundle campaigns. Customers have been told that they would have to pay more if they still wanted to go ahead with the promotional campaigns.

Internet KSC, which was running bundle campaigns with different partners, seemed to suffer the most from the rising costs. Customers said they had been told by PC Resource Co., KSC’s partner in the ‘PC to Go’ bundle campaign, that they would have to pay Baht 3,500 more to get the booked PCs. In some cases, customers were told that they would get a few thousand baht refund, but would be on their own in finding the memory units for the PCs.

Some PC makers asked customers to pay more in exchange for better options - like a hard disk with bigger a capacity.

The price for 64 MB of RAM rose to Baht 6,200, from just above Baht 1,000 one month earlier. The price rise is said to be due to ‘extremely high’ demand in overseas markets.

Belta Computer put off its bundle campaign on September 30, after just 15 days, because of rising costs.

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Updated by Boosiri Suansuk