Crown Property Bureau

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Crown Property Bureau

The Crown Property Bureau , CPB for short ( Thai สำนักงาน ทรัพย์สินส่วนพระมหากษัตริย์ , RTGS : Samnakngan Sapsin suan Phramahakasat ) is an institution in Thailand that is responsible for the asset management of the Thai crown, but not for the private property of the king and his family. The position of the CPB is unique as it is neither a government agency nor part of the farm administration or a private company. It is exempt from taxes by law. From 2008 to 2010, the CPB had between nine and eleven billion baht in revenue per year . The annual report is only presented to the King.

The Crown Property Bureau is headed by retired Air Force General Satitpong Sukvimol .

Holdings

The Crown Property Bureau was founded in 1936 after an overturn in 1932 replaced the absolute monarchy with a constitutional one. By law, the parliament separated the royal property of the time into the private property of the king, public property and crown property. For the crown property it set up the CPB, which was subordinate to the Ministry of Finance. In 1948, during the reign of the royalist Democratic Party , the CPB regained its own legal personality and was placed under the direct control of the king. According to the law in force since then, the king appoints the general director of the CPB, while the respective finance minister presides over the board of directors.

The CPB has held stakes in many Thai companies since the 1970s. Among other things, it is the main shareholder of Siam Cement (30%), one of the largest companies in Thailand, Siam Commercial Bank , the country's second largest bank (25%), Deves Insurance and Christiani & Nielsen (construction company). It also has stakes in a number of other local companies, many of which are listed in the SET Index on the Bangkok Stock Exchange .

In addition, the Crown Property Bureau owns 36,000 lots in Bangkok with a total area of ​​54 km² and several outside Bangkok on a total area of ​​160 km². These are rented or leased. This includes many properties in the best locations in Bangkok. This makes the CPB the largest landlord in Bangkok. However, the CPB states that it only leases 7% of the land on terms that would be common in the private sector. Much of the land in Bangkok is used by government institutions or is occupied by informal settlements, markets or commercial buildings. The large Central World shopping center and the Four Seasons Hotel are also located on the CPB site .

The CPB also held a majority stake in Kempinski Hotel AG , headquartered in Munich, and its subsidiary Kempinski SA, headquartered in Geneva . The sheikhs of Bahrain have had a majority in the company since February 2017 .

The total value of the property is not published. The Thai economic historian Porphant Ouyyanont , who was given extensive insight for a publication on the history of the CPB, put it at 27.4 billion US dollars at the end of 2005. Based on the information provided by Porphants and including the performance, Forbes Asia estimated the value in 2008 at $ 35 billion. The vast majority of it makes up real estate. The CPB's stake in Siam Cement was worth $ 1.9 billion in 2008, that of SCB was worth $ 1.1 billion, that of Deves-Versicherung was worth $ 65 million and the other company holdings combined were worth $ 600 million.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Porphant Ouyyanont: Crown Property. In: King Bhumibol Adulyadej, A Life's Work. Thailand's Monarchy in Perspective. Editions Didier Millet, Singapore 2011, p. 297.
  2. ^ King announces new lord chamberlain, Crown Property Bureau chief. In: The Nation , March 12, 2018.
  3. ↑ Kobkua Suwannathat-Pian: Kings, Country and Constitutions. Thailand's Political Development 1932-2000. Routledge Shorton, 2003, p. 196.
  4. ↑ Simon Montlake: In Thailand, A Rare Peek At His Majesty's Balance Sheet. Forbes, January 20, 2012.
  5. ↑ About the Kempinski Hotels  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.kempinski.com  
  6. ^ Susan J. Cunningham: The Crowning Fortune. Forbes, August 14, 2008.

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