Weston Wood Solutions

Introduction

Weston Wood Solutions was looking to establish a manufacturing operation in Southeast Asia. Weston Wood approached Acclime for advice and assistance in making their expansion work as smoothly as possible while maximising benefits from investment incentives. They sought Board of Investment (BOI) certification to: provide import duty relaxation on their factory machinery, allow corporate income tax relief and allow foreign ownership.

The challenge

Geographical considerations were important to Weston Wood. They needed access to natural resources, land availability, a labour market and efficient transportation. Thailand’s south checked most boxes, but the country’s strict immigration policies together with limits on foreign ownership of businesses and land presented quite a challenge.

We needed help to understand levels of government support for our considerable investment so that we could properly build our business case.

In order to select Thailand as the country for their Asian expansion, Weston Wood needed:

• 100% foreign ownership of the Thai company
• Considerable corporate tax relief in recognition of the investment being made
• Exemption from import duty on the machinery required to set up the manufacturing operation
• Easing of immigration requirements so that technical staff can relocate from Canada

We had no Thai partner as investor, and there was no way we could have considered Thailand without having a 100% foreign-owned company there.

Our solution

Acclime’s business managers, consultants and lawyers looked into the details of Weston Wood’s business model in order to propose the best solution to structuring the Thailand operation, not only in accordance to Weston Wood’s needs but also with a view to maximising benefits from investment incentives.

Proposing a company set up with BOI certification

Acclime suggested BOI certification for Weston Wood after careful checking with BOI officials on whether the BOI would consider Weston Wood’s business activity as being within the BOI’s scope of promoted industries. We carefully explained the process of certification to Weston Wood, and presented the list of benefits. Weston Wood supported the approach and engaged Acclime’s services to obtain BOI certification.

Already certain that the BOI would consider Weston Wood’s application favourably, Acclime’s lawyers were able to push for the incentives required to meet all of Weston Wood’s objectives: Corporate income tax (CIT) and import duty exemptions were secured, the company was certificated to be 100% foreign owned and immigration rules were relaxed for foreign staff.

Acclime’s legal team constantly enagaged with the BOI officers to represent Weston Wood and ensure the BOI certification provided the best result possible for the client.

The process of obtaining the BOI certification was not easy and presented many challenges. The Acclime team’s expertise and dedication to the task meant a huge amount to us.

The result

From the initial consultations to securing all of the required company registrations and certifications, Acclime took care of the entire process. The result is that Weston Wood Solutions now has two factories operating in Songkhla, in the south of Thailand, staffed by expatriate and local skilled personnel.

The Thai company is 100% foreign owned and continues to benefit from tax reductions and exemptions granted by the BOI, and negotiated by Acclime.

About Weston Wood Solutions

Weston Wood Solutions is a premier manufacturer and distributor of quality, value-added wood solutions. The company is based in Ontario, Canada, and has set up a manufacturing base in southern Thailand. https://westonwoodsolutions.com/