Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi
| Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Khun Charoen 2 May 1944 |
| Residence | Bangkok, Thailand |
| Nationality | Thai |
| Occupation | Chairman, ThaiBev and Fraser and Neave |
| Net worth | US$14.1 billion (February 2017) |
| Spouse(s) | Khunying Wanna |
| Children | 5 |
Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi (Thai: เจริญ สิริวัฒนภักดี; rtgs: Charoen Siriwatthanaphakdi; born 2 May 1944) is a Thai billionaire businessman.
He is the founder of Thai Beverage, the chairman of conglomerate TCC Group and Fraser and Neave, Ltd(F&N). Sirivadhanabhakdi family is now Thailand's largest property developer and landlord of 630,000 rai, plus commercial and retail buildings in Singapore. He also owns 50 hotels in Asia, the US, UK and Australia, including Plaza Athénée in Manhattan and The Okura Prestige Bangkok.
In 1988, King Bhumibol of Thailand granted the family the name “Sirivadhanabhakdi”.
Born to a Thai family of Chinese origin, he is the sixth of 11 children of a poor street vendor who migrated to Bangkok from southern China. He left school early, at the age of nine, to work. To this day Charoen speaks Teochew, his native Chinese dialect, as well as Thai.
Charoen started by supplying distilleries producing Thai whiskey, which were a state-run monopoly at the time. Through the contacts he made, he acquired a licence to produce his own alcoholic drinks. All liquor production was state-owned at the time, and Charoen was able to get rights to 15 percent of the market.
In 1985, the remaining 85 percent of state licenses were opened to bids. Charoen was able to take out a US$200 million loan using his large stocks of alcohol as collateral and soon after won 100 percent of the concessions. With this monopoly, Charoen's beverage companies were able to return US$550 million in royalties to Thailand’s excise department in 1987, five percent of the national budget at the time.
In 1991 Charoen teamed up with the Danish brewer Carlsberg to tap into Thailand's growing beer market, at the time dominated by the 60-year-old Boon Rawd Brewery which made Singha beer. Three years later, based on what he had learned from Carlsberg, he began making his own beer, branded "Chang" (Thai for "elephant"). Within five years, Chang had captured 60 percent of the local market. Completely eclipsed, in 2003 Carlsberg pulled out of the joint venture. Charoen then successfully sued the Danish company, winning US$120 million in 2005. In 2005, an attempt by Siriwattanapakdi to list ThaiBev on the Thai stock market triggered protests from Thai Buddhist groups due to concerns over the dangers of increased consumption of alcohol. The protests from the Buddhists groups managed to stop ThaiBev from being listed on the Thai stock exchange.
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