Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing Amity Treaty Companies and the notion of Holding Companies. So can an Amity Treaty Company be a Holding Company? Let's first dive into what is an Amity Treaty Company? Well pursuant to what is called the US-Thai Treaty of Amity between Thailand and America, Americans doing business in Thailand or more specifically American Corporations in Thailand doing business here, are granted National treatment. What does this mean? Well it means the Company so for example if you set up a Thai Company here in Thailand, and you get Amity Certification, that company will be treated as if it were a Thai Company, it's given National treatment. So notwithstanding the provisions of the Foreign Business Act which usually practically result in people needing to set up their Company 49/51 foreign to Thai ratio, notwithstanding those provisions, Americans can basically own their companies 100% under The Amity Treaty setup. 

So what's the point of this video insofar as far as Holding Companies, what are we talking about? Well Amity Treaty Companies are treated as if they were Thai Companies and especially from an operational standpoint, it operates quite smoothly. I mean there's no real issue. If you have an Amity Company you just do business just like a Thai Company would. Now the issue comes in when you have a Company acting as a kind of a Holding Company. So first up let's be clear. Sometimes people talk about Holding Companies and they are talking about Property Holding Companies like land for example. Well land ownership is specifically prohibited under The Amity Treaty so you're not going to be able to set up an Amity Company and circumvent the Thai restrictions on land ownership, as a Holding Company. The next sort of issue is a little bit more nuanced insofar as an Amity Company acting as a Holding Company insofar as they are holding shares in another corporation in Thailand. This is where I've seen people say "well why can't we set up an Amity Company that will then own a majority of another Thai Company that doesn't have Amity Certification and that Amity Company can own it 100% because it's granted National treatment?” I have seen where the Thai bureaucracy if you will or in circumstances where this issue has to kind of be arbitrated, where they have said "look, Amity protection flows to that one entity. It’s not like a flow through thing, so you can't do through using an Amity Company as a Holding Company to then own a company that does something that is perhaps in violation of the Foreign Business Act. Without getting that other Company specifically certified, there's no like flow through Amity protection or anything. So in that sense, no they can't act as Holding Companies and allow that other company to just operate as it otherwise would as a Thai Company. No, no, no. It's treated as foreign in the sense for those purposes. Amity Certification certifies the specific Company, the specific entity which covers it. It does not flow through. That's the best way to understand this in a Holding Company context.