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Bangkok Bank (BBL) has purchased a 4.85-per-cent stake in entertainment company RS from RS chief executive officer Surachai Chetchotisak, according to RS chief finance officer Darm Nana.
He said the deal amounted to 49 million shares.
The transaction makes BBL one of the major shareholders in RS, while the Chetchotisak family has remained the biggest shareholder. 
Darm added that the share acquisition had no impact on RS’s management structure.
BBL has had good relations with RS for 30 years and has been RS’s main financial supporter. 
RS’s share price last Friday closed unchanged at Bt7.70.

PTT GROUP BOARD ISSUES STRICT NEW RULES ON DISCLOSURE

PTT Group’s management must disclose information to the market on purchases or sales of the group’s shares before the transactions are completed. 
If they use inside information, they must be fired.
This rule was resolved by PTT Group’s board of directors last Friday.
Tevin Vongvanich, president and CEO of PTT, said after the board meeting that the directors had agreed to use the new rule for the management teams of all the group’s companies. 
The details on the time frame for such disclosures will be finalised later.

CHINESE PROJECTS BEING HELD BACK BY LANGUAGE BARRIER

China is in desperate need of better translators, as many of its intentions in Southeast Asia have been stifled by the lack of understanding among Asean member states, a recent seminar concluded.
With its enormous economic clout, the country has already offered Asean a number of large-scale projects such as the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, the One Belt, One Road initiative, and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership.
But despite strategic partnerships proposed during China’s 25-year dialogue relationship with Asean, Beijing is finding it hard to persuade countries in the region to embrace its grand plans.
According to senior journalist Kavi Chongkittavorn, part of the reason China is having difficulty currying favour with Asean is that members of the bloc are suspicious of Beijing’s intentions in the region.
“China is looking at Asean, wanting to form a strategic partnership that is [simultaneously] flexible, multilateral and multifaceted,” said Kavi, also a fellow at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok.
“Asean seldom understands what the Chinese have in mind,” he told the discussion on China and Asean. – The Jakarta Post

VIETNAM OFFICIAL CALLS FOR FAIR TRADE CERTIFICATION SYSTEM

Vietnam needs to develop a fair-trade certification system as the fastest route to the sustainable development of Vietnamese agricultural products, an official from the Ministry of Industry and Trade said.
At a workshop titled “New Horizons – Promotion Fair Trade in Vietnam”, held by the European Union delegation to Vietnam and the Vietnam Rural Industries Research and Development Institute here last week, director of the ministry’s Vietnam Trade Promotion Agency Bui Huy Son said certification would not only boost the penetration of Vietnamese products into the European market, but also ensure the rights and interests of both producers and their workers.
“The process of implementing criteria and standards of fair trade will also help the businesses, especially small- and medium-sized enterprises, to raise their domestic competitiveness and to improve the practice of sustainable agricultural production, which will influence other businesses,” Son said. – Viet Nam News.