briefs

Linde (Thailand), a member of the Linde Group, will invest Bt500 million to install a new commercial-carbon-dioxide production facility in Map Ta Phut, Rayong.

Managing director Keerin Chutumstid said the company had continued to see rising demand from its customers in the energy, chemical, fabrication, and food and beverage sectors, leading it to invest in a new plant to meet clients’ requirements and effectively support their growth and export competitiveness.

The new facility with daily capacity of 300 tonnes when it becomes operational early next year will raise Linde Thailand’s total carbon-dioxide production to 1,200 tonnes per day, reinforcing its position as a major supplier of the gas in the region in view of the upcoming Asean Economic Community, Chutumstid said.

Bernd Eulitz, head of Linde’s business unit in South and East Asia, said the latest investment, following the company’s Bt3.5-billion investment to build what will be Thailand’s largest liquid-air-separation plant with a daily capacity of 800 tonnes of liquefied gases, demonstrated Linde’s confidence in Thailand as an attractive market with excellent long-term growth prospects. The facility will become operational this year. 

Linde Thailand, formerly Thai Industrial Gases (TIG), is the country’s biggest gas producer. It boasts a wide range of industrial, speciality and medical product portfolios with a large direct-sales network across the nation. 

 

Regional JWT committee

JWT Asia-Pacific CEO Tom Doctoroff yesterday announced the formation of a new regional executive management committee, bolstered by several key promotions, to help drive business development and creative direction in this dynamic, fast-growing region. The move is Doctoroff’s first initiative since he assumed the role of Asia-Pacific CEO of the advertising company on January 1. 

JWT Bangkok CEO Bob Hekkelman will be promoted to the newly created role of Southeast Asia CEO, overseeing operations in Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia and Vietnam. 

Hekkelman has 26 years of experience in the advertising industry, with the last 12 years in a leadership role in the region. He served as group managing director for Ogilvy & Mather, an international advertising, marketing and public relations agency, in the Philippines and later in Jakarta before joining JWT Bangkok as chief executive in 2007. 

Hekkelman, together with Australasia CEO John Gutteridge and Doctoroff, who also serves as North Asia area director, will represent JWT Asia-Pacific’s three subregions on the new regional executive committee. 

“Southeast Asia’s economic star is on the rise, and we are committed to seeking out new opportunities, both in existing markets we operate in and in the newer, emerging markets of Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar. Bob’s new role reflects the importance of Southeast Asia to our broader strategy,” Doctoroff said. 

Other members of JWT Asia-Pacific’s new regional committee are chief financial officer Nick Romas; Sapna Srivastava, chief talent officer; consultant Mark Webster, who served as head of JWT’s Thailand, Vietnam, Philippines and Japanese offices; and executives from partner companies, including Cai Hui, founder and CEO of Always Field Marketing; Pete Rentschler, president of Blue Hive, WPP’s Team Ford Asian agency; and Paul Soon, CEO of XM Asia Pacific, a JWT company. 

 

Record number of bikes

The number of registered motorcycles in Thailand reached a record 2.13 million units last year, an increase of 6 per cent from 2011, according to the Land Transport Department.

In December, new registrations stood at 152,894 units, up 25 per cent year on year. 

 

TCRB campaign

Thai Credit Retail Bank, the financial arm of Thai Life Insurance Group, has launched a “Tax Free 24-Month Fixed Deposit” campaign to celebrate its seventh anniversary, offering special interest rates of 4 per cent per annum, said managing director Roy Gunara.

This special offer is available at all of its branches until February 28. Under the campaign, the minimum amount required to open a new account is Bt1,000, up to a maximum of Bt25,000 per depositor. 

 

Vietnam, ADB in loan pact

Vietnam yesterday signed four loan agreements with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for US$176 million (Bt5.24 billion) to strengthen its capacity in various areas, such as public-private partnerships and food safety.

The agreements were signed by Nguyen Van Binh, governor of the State Bank of Vietnam, and Tomoyuki Kimura, the ADB’s country director for Vietnam.

The largest loan of $130 million will help transform the border towns of Dong Ha and Lao Bao in the central province of Quang Tri and Moc Bai in the southeastern Tay Ninh province into economic hubs by improving urban and environmental infrastructure and strengthening local institutional capacities.

A $20-million loan will come from the bank’s Asian Development Fund (ADF) to finance the Public Private Partnership Support Project for more private investments in infrastructure.

An $11-million loan will fund a project to develop food-safety standards. This will help establish, strengthen, and implement surveillance and inspection programmes for food safety, including safe handling in the tourism industry, and regional cooperation as well as sanitary and phytosanitary management of food trade in the Greater Mekong Subregion.

The final loan of $15 million, also from the ADF, is for capacity building in HIV/Aids prevention, which will help the government develop its national and regional capacity to mitigate HIV risks and vulnerability, primarily in the country’s 15 border provinces. – Viet Nam News