Incentives reviewed to attract HQs

       The government is reviewing investment incentives to make Thailand more attractive as a location for regional headquarters than its neighbours.
       Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva announced the initiative - without providing details of new privileges - while presiding over ExxonMobil's celebration of the sixth anniversary of its Bangkok Business Support Centre.
       The unit runs the oil group's administrative functions such as payroll, training and retail business support for AsiaPacific. The centre's staff have increased over six years from 600 to 2,000.
       ExxonMobil was the first company to gain Board of Investment (BoI) privileges under the regional operating service (ROS) establishment scheme, which assists with work permits and import duty on machinery.
       Hiranya Suchinai, an adviser to the BoI, hopes to see more companies being attracted by enhanced privileges to build their regional centres in Thailand.
       Last year,20 projects worth 1.06 billion baht sought privileges to set up regional offices here. In the first seven months of 2009, BoI has received nine requests with a value of 161 million baht.
       Daniel Lyons, chairman of the board of directors, said ExxonMobil had chosen Bangkok for its backup office for business in Southeast Asia because of the country's infrastructure and the company's long experience of operating here.
       But the company has no plans to expand its business in Thailand, largely because Esso (Thailand) Plc, Exxon's Thai unit, is unsure of the outlook for the oil refinery and petrochemical industry in the second half of the year, he said.
       "Oil stock gains in the first half helped us [to improve results], but in the latter half, with the global economic recovery outlook being gloomy, we are uncertain of the business direction and unable to estimate," said Mongkonnimit Ueachoetkun, public relations manager for Esso Thailand.
       Shares of ESSO closed yesterday on the Stock Exchange of Thailand at 7.35 baht, down 20 satang, in trade worth 105.65 million baht.