Singapore's Temasek Holdings has described as "positive" Finance Minister Chalongphob Sussangkarn's comments on Friday that Thailand should not and likely will not take back telecom giant Shin Corp.

"We welcome the assurance of Finance Minister Chalongphob. The statement he made on Friday signals a very positive development," said Temasek's chief for Thailand Goh Yong Siang.

"We would like to assure the minister we respect the feelings of the Thai people and their government," Goh said.

Goh's brief statement did not explain what the company would do next to cool bilateral tension over Shin Corp.

Temasek's takeover of the company for around Bt140 billion sparked furore here and partly precipitated the coup against premier Thaksin Shinawatra.

Chalongphob told Dow Jones Newswires Thailand should not and likely would not take back Shin Corp from Singaporean control.

The two sides should find a compromise, he added.

"The legal investigation aside, we should not take Shin back or seize its assets. It will send a wrong message to foreign investors," he said.

"The two sides must find a middle ground. Temasek must understand the feelings of the Thai people and we must not push the case to extremes."

According to a person familiar with the Temasek-Shin Corp deal, the Singaporean state investment arm is carefully weighing how it will respond further to the statement.

Chalongphob holds "rather liberal views" of the country's foreign business law, the source said.

It is not known if his comments reflect the view of the government or are his own.

But, Commerce Minister Krirk-krai Jirapaet earlier alleged holding company Kularb Kaew was used by Temasek as a nominee shareholder of Shin Corp to get around the 49-per-cent limit on foreign ownership of Thai telecom companies.

Officials have threatened on several occasions to reclaim Shin Corp from Temasek if it was found to have circumvented foreign ownership laws through the use of nominees.

The takeover is a sensitive and delicate political issue because Shin Corp holds stakes in broadcaster iTV, Shin Satellite, Air Asia and mobile operator Advanced Info Service.

Despite news reports of a possible deal to divest itself of Shin Satellite, a source said there had been no concrete proposal from Temasek to allow Shin Corp to sell Shin Satellite or any other asset to comply with the ownership law.

Police are investigating the Shin Corp case and will soon speak with Surin Upatkoon, the Malaysian-based Thai businessman, over any involvement he may have had as a nominee for Singapore.

Striking a conciliatory tone, Chalongphob indicated a desire at the most senior levels of the government to ease tensions between the Kingdom and Singapore and to resolve the Shin row without further damaging Thailand's reputation with foreign investors.

He said strong anti-Singapore comments from various government officials were made in the "heat of the moment".