(Bangkok Post via NewsEdge) Thailand's Information and Communications Technology minister has set up a team to consider a possible buyout of Shin Satellite and hopes to have a proposal within three months.
ICT minister Sitthichai Pookaiyaudom said the 18-member team drawn from the ICT and Justice ministries would look for the best and most prudent option to buy Shin Satellite from Shin, the communications group now controlled by Temasek Holdings of Singapore.
He said the process would include an opinion survey of 20,000 to 30,000 people nationwide about whether a buyout of the satellite company would be appropriate.
While share purchase options are being studied, he said the investigation into the foreign holdings in Kularb Kaew, an entity Temasek set up to buy the Shin shares, would continue by the Commerce Ministry and the Department of Special Investigation.
Temasek has been entertaining the possibility of selling down some of its holdings in order to defuse political tensions between Thailand and Singapore.
Sitthichai said he believed that Temasek would be reluctant to sell only Shin Satellite but would also want to offer shares of Advanced Info Service, the mobile operator that is Shin's most valuable property.
However he said that any purchase option would have to be considered with caution, particularly whether it was value for money.
Shin Satellite was founded in 1991 by Shin Corp with a 30-year concession to operate satellite services under a build-transfer-operate contract. Shin Satellite also offers Internet services through CS Loxinfo and mobile telecom services in Laos and Cambodia.
© 2007 Bangkok Post
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