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”.
Early life
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.
Business career
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.
Charoen is the founder and chairman of TCC Group, a Thai beverage and real estate conglomerate. The group has more than 60,000 employees and its flagship subsidiary, Thai Beverage, is the largest beverage company in Thailand. He’s also the chairman of food and beverage company Fraser & Neave in Singapore.
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