Combined wealth of 3 richest Thai billionaires rises by $1.6B this year

Their current rankings have not changed from Forbes’ global billionaire list published earlier this year, which was compiled based on net worth as of March 7.

The magazine noted that the list features individuals rather than multigenerational families, although spouses and children are counted when said individual is the founder of the family wealth.

1. Dhanin Chearavanont – $18.4 billion

Dhanin, 86, is the head of the Chearavanonts, the family behind Charoen Pokphand Group—one of the largest producers of animal feed and livestock in the world.

CP started out as a small seed shop in Bangkok set up by Dhanin’s father and uncle in the 1920s. Over a century later, it has expanded far beyond its agribusiness roots and into a sprawling conglomerate with interests in telecommunications, finance and e-commerce, among others, and operations in 23 countries and economies.

In May, True IDC, the data center and cloud services arm of the group’s telecoms giant True, entered a partnership with a unit of U.S. investment firm BlackRock to invest $1 billion over the next 3-5 years into new data centers in Thailand as the country positions itself as a regional digital hub, as reported by Forbes.

Ascend Money, CP’s fintech arm, gained approval to set up a virtual bank a month later, supporting the expansion of its TrueMoney payments platform.

Since March, Dhanin’s net worth has climbed by $3.2 billion to $18.4 billion as of Dec. 19. He is the sole gainer among the top three.

2. Sarath Ratanavadi – $11.8 billion

Sarath Ratanavadi, CEO of Gulf Development. Photo from the company’s website

Sarath Ratanavadi, 60, serves as the CEO of Gulf Development, one of the country’s biggest conglomerates with interests spanning telecommunications and digital infrastructure.

The company was formed earlier this year through the merger of power firm Gulf Energy Development, which Sarath founded in 2007, and telecoms group InTouch Holdings. The combined entity began trading on the Stock Exchange of Thailand in April, according to Thai newspaper The Nation.

The firm in May raised its holding in Kasikornbank, Thailand’s second-largest lender, to $610 million, or a 5.23% stake, Bloomberg reported.

Earlier this month, Sarath was named Thailand’s wealthiest stock investor for the seventh consecutive year by local magazine Money and Banking. But the total value of his stock holdings plunged 20.95% year-on-year to 189.99 billion baht (US$6.04 billion) as of end-September.

His net worth fell $1.1 billion from the earlier ranking to $11.8 billion as of Dec. 19.

3. Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi and family – $11.2 billion

Bilioyarre Charoen Charoen Siribadhakhak in

Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi, 81, is the founder and chairman of TCC Group, a business empire that spans beverage, real estate and hospitality. Its portfolio includes companies such as hypermarket chain Big C Supercenter, Thailand’s largest drinks maker Thai Beverage, and Frasers Property.

The business started decades ago, when Charoen took control of a liquor company where he had previously worked. Together with his late wife, he steadily expanded the firm over the years.

In late May, Charoen transferred stakes in some of the group’s key companies to his five children, a move seen as part of a long-term succession plan orchestrated by the tycoon. Charoen had earlier relinquished leadership roles across various companies within the conglomerate.

Forbes continues to attribute the family fortune to Charoen as he is the founder of the business. His net worth slipped by $500 million from March to $11.2 billion as of Dec. 19.