Thailand’s richest tycoon Dhanin Chearavanont under pressure

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Thailand’s Richest Tycoon Dhanin Chearavanont Under Pressure
BY JACOB MASLOW



BANGKOK: -- Dhanin Chearavanont, the richest man in Thailand, gained his fortune through shrimp, chicken and pig farming. From there, he created a global empire that included telecommunications, convenience stores, plastics, and pharmaceutical production. But now, many of the tycoon’s ventures are facing pressure by headwinds, including weak Russian currency, China’s slowing economy and political unrest in Turkey.

Charoen Pokphand Group, which is closely held by Mr. Chearavanont, suffered a bird flu crisis a decade ago that nearly crippled the poultry business. The group posed an annual revenue of $40 billion in 2013.

CP has been aggressively expanding over the years, and now employees 300,000 people at 200 subsidiaries throughout 17 countries. Today, the company is involved in a wide range of industries, including banking and auto-parts manufacturing. The majority of the companies under the group are private, and two units are listed in Thailand. Others are listed in Indonesia, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

The largest publicly listed subsidiary of CP is expected to release its third-quarter profit results on Wednesday.

Mr. Chearavanont has seen his domestic profits shrink due to economic malaise in Thailand. Weak consumer spending has also hurt the company’s 7-Eleven stores, and disease has devastated his shrimp stocks. Pork and chicken oversupplies have put a 10% dent in prices this year.

Full story: http://ethailand.com/featured-news/thailands-richest-tycoon-dhanin-chearavanont-pressure/324/

-- eThailand 2015-12-01

[Usernames]

This poor, poor man. Something should be done.

[saakura]

And we are reading a business article on TV because...............

Because it is a Thailand forum and this topic is Thai news.

[Bluespunk]

This poor, poor man. Something should be done.

Yeah, come on guys, it's Christmas, let's have a whip round for him.

[casualbiker]

This poor, poor man. Something should be done.

Yeah, come on guys, it's Christmas, let's have a whip round for him.

I'm all for giving the fella a whipping!!

[trogers]

A result of having fingers in too many pies.

Time to sell off non-performing assets.

[worgeordie]

A result of having fingers in too many pies.

Time to sell off non-performing assets.

Again !

regards Worgeordie

[Katipo]

More than just slowing markets, he is also under increasing pressure due to business practices, e.g. shrimp.

No one gets this rich in Thailand through business acumen alone.

[NongKhaiKid]

To make matters worse he had to pay Bt 40 yesterday for a counter transaction to transfer money as the ATMs were down, when it rains it really pisses.

[SOUTHERNSTAR]

Shame and they didn't even mentioned True (part of the empire) and all of it's problems. The funny thing is that rumors say that people mentioned in the article was involved in setting up regime change in a country we all know. Now that country's economy is falling apart and harming the core businesses of the wealthy one. Karma is really a b...h.

[TheCruncher]

A result of having fingers in too many pies.

Time to sell off non-performing assets.

Isn't that what he was also forced to in the aftermath of the 1997 financial crisis, to be able to survive?

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/783755-thai-billionaires-debt-spree-evokes-asian-crisis-memory/

A borrowing spree by Thai billionaire Dhanin Chearavanont that raised debt to almost six times equity is adding to mounting corporate liabilities and reviving memories of the 1997 Asian crisis.

Dhanin’s CP All Pcl (CPALL), operator of 7-Eleven stores, has increased total debt to 5.8 times equity as of Sept. 30 from zero two years ago, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

http://blogs.ft.com/beyond-brics/2012/12/06/meet-dhanin-chearavanont-the-man-who-swooped-in-on-ping-an/

In a business culture dominated by Thai-Chinese families, Dhanin has become a leading figure in the ethnic Chinese community. It was not a straight line to the top, however. The Asian financial crisis of 1997 and the plunge of the Thai baht inflicted massive losses on Dhanin and the CP Group. Ironically, it was HSBC, calling in $400m worth of loans in 1998, that inflicted the biggest hit.

[SOTIRIOS]

....is this an advertisement.....

[Ks45672]

Hard to feel sorry for the richest man in Thailand when he's only making 10% less billions than he usually makes.....

[mike324]

He should be buying all the unsold rotten rice, I remember he used to campaign for Yingluck during her election, he said if Thailand can't sell the rice he will personally buy them all. Too bad I can't find that video anymore, I would love to share it.

[Bobobirdiebuddy]

Stop. You're breaking my heart.

[HOAX]

And we are reading a business article on TV because...............

... because it`s an interesting article, and may even have a direct impact on you. It tells a story about the financial problems around the world, that clearly has an impact on Thailand.

The Thai Baht, other currencies, less export demand, impacts Thailand`s export industry greatly, a low GDP growth rate (0,3% and expected to shrink to 0,2% in 2016), unemployment rate has been extremely good but is now rising again, a rising gov` debt (40,3%), poor education levels, political instability, very high debt per household, rising living costs, food prices and lower consumer spending also impacts Thailand`s economy greatly, and may eventually have a direct impact on you. This false advertising about the fantastic Thai economy will eventually strike back. Bailing people out, just to lend them more money is definitely not the way to go. Both Yingluck and the Junta has been devastating for the Thai economy, taking nothing but short term measures and nothing to bring stability and securing growth.

[fred Kubasa]

Locally he has done quite well with domestic businesses but, of late, he hastried to play with the big international boys, ignoring or putting aside hiscore local businesses and has been burnt. I am sure his personal fortune

isn't involved but investors could suffer

[laocowboy2]

And we are reading a business article on TV because...............

Possibly because someone sees it as 'tip of the iceberg' time. Big Thai groups have borrowed heavily for overseas investments and acquisitions - too heavily perhaps. If they run into trouble abroad, there could well be fallout at home.

[gregk0543]

Yep i am making 10 % less this year too. Tough times for everyone. He is the same as us just different scale.

[BSJ]

Awww! If the poor guy knocks on the front door I'd be happy to make him a cappuccino plus a shrimp and mayo sandwich. You guys are just heartless.

[bangon04]

Just think if he became a monk for a few months.. how much money could he make.

[CantSpell]

Will teach him to poison people...

High rate of cancer in Thailand, the only healthy thing sold in 7/11 are water bottles and condoms.. I sometimes have some doubts over the water though ..

Article on BP today: 57% of chicken sold at store in Thailand breach the allowed antibiotic level: makes you wonder what they feed the chicken....

And people die cause they start to develop antibiotic resistance as they are over-exposed to it from meat and vegetables sold in the country....

Scary..

[Thai at Heart]

And we are reading a business article on TV because...............

It is not even a business article because TV simply recycled this story without fact checking that shows the CP guy does not rank #37 as quoted in the article, but is ranked in the actual Forbes Rich List at #81. Further, his net worth is $13.6 billion, not 22 or whatever it was reported in the article TV didn't fact check.

The OP article source is incorrect by any standard though, because there is somebody even richer in LOS to the tune of $30 billion net worth. So even the headline is wrong and misleading.

You must have better sources than Forbes, because for them Dhanin is the richest Thai on earth, and is very far from the 30 Billion you claim is owned by another Thai.

http://www.forbes.com/thailand-billionaires/

Well, that is always known to be a politically correct statistic.

[Seastallion]

More than just slowing markets, he is also under increasing pressure due to business practices, e.g. shrimp.

No one gets this rich in Thailand through business acumen alone.

Not just shrimp.

The local 7-11 sells a kuat of Hong Thong for 263 bht, the Tesco across the road for 235. That's quite a difference, and more than you'd expect from any buying power at wholesale. I choose to cross the road.

[ALLSEEINGEYE]

must be scary for this poor guy not to know how he will pay his rent 10,000 year from now.

I wonder how many people he has driven to the poor house with his monopolies?

[jerojero]

Haha, so he is worth 50 billion now instead of 60. Who gives a s**t about this hi so "tycoon"....

[In the jungle]

CP

Why pay less when you can pay more.

[h90]

the used the bird flu to get rid of competition.....chicken got very expensive and never went down in price anymore.

[KIWIBATCH]

...and CP took a big hit with an export shipment of frozen chicken to Japan that was rejected by the Japanese health authorities as being..."full of growth hormones exceeding levels making it unfit for human consumption"

...anybody on TV buy CP produced chicken pieces....?

[Yann55]

More than just slowing markets, he is also under increasing pressure due to business practices, e.g. shrimp.

No one gets this rich in Thailand through business acumen alone.

In Thailand or anywhere else, for that matter.