Latest news with #Chearavanont
Forbes
03-07-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Wealth Of Thailand's 50 Richest On Forbes List Rises Over 11% To $170.5 Billion
Red Bull's Chalerm Yoovidhya & family retain top spot SINGAPORE (July 3, 2025) – The combined wealth of tycoons on the 2025 Forbes list of Thailand's 50 Richest rose more than 11% to US$170.5 billion, despite slower-than-expected economic growth amid trade tensions and mounting political uncertainty. The complete list can be found here, as well as in the July issue of Forbes Asia and the August issue of Forbes Thailand. Overall, the net worths of nearly half the listees were up with the biggest dollar jump—$8.5 billion—recorded by the Red Bull family, led by Chalerm Yoovidhya. In the No. 1 position for the second year in a row, their wealth skyrocketed to a record $44.5 billion as annual revenue of the energy drinks giant rose to €11.2 billion ($12.9 billion) in 2024 on worldwide sales of nearly 13 billion cans. The Chearavanont brothers of the Charoen Pokphand group retained their position as the country's second-richest with their net worth up by 23% to $35.7 billion. The group is doubling down on digital infrastructure, investing $1 billion with BlackRock to build data centers. The group's fintech unit Ascend Money recently got approval to set up a virtual bank. Energy-and-telecoms tycoon Sarath Ratanavadi climbed two spots to No. 3 for the first time with $12 billion, up from $9.2 billion last year. Completing the merger between his Gulf Energy Development and Intouch Holdings and listing the combined entity in April as Gulf Development powered his ascent. Taking the No. 4 spot is beverage tycoon Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi, whose net worth was relatively flat at $10.5 billion. In a key move, the patriarch transferred some holdings to his five children but being the group founder, the fortune continues to be listed under his name. Rounding out the top five on the list is the Central Group's Chirathivat family, who saw their wealth decline 13% to $8.6 billion, as weak consumer sentiment impacted the retail sector. A total of 19 listees faced a downdraft. Coffee magnate Prayudh Mahagitsiri's (No. 18, $1.4 billion) wealth took a hit as his PM Group's long-standing joint venture with Nestle ended. Two patriarchs passed away since the last ranking: Vanich Chaiyawan, chairman emeritus of Thai Life; and Pongsak Viddayakorn, cofounder of Bangkok Dusit Medical Services, who went on to build a separate healthcare business under Principal Capital. Their fortunes are now listed under the Chaiyawan family (No. 6, $4.2 billion) and the Viddayakorn family (No. 30, $1.1 billion). Four people fell from the ranks, including renewable energy magnate Somphote Ahunai, whose Energy Absolute faced financial stress. The minimum net worth to qualify for the list dropped to $420 million from last year's $550 million. The top 10 richest in Thailand are: This list was compiled using shareholding and financial information obtained from the families and individuals, stock exchanges and analysts, the Stock Exchange of Thailand and regulatory agencies. Unlike the Forbes World's Billionaires list rankings, this list encompasses family fortunes, including those shared among extended families of multiple generations. Public fortunes were calculated based on stock prices and exchange rates as on June 13. Private companies were valued based on comparisons with similar companies that are publicly traded. The list can also include foreign citizens with business, residential or other ties to the country, or citizens who don't reside in the country but have significant business or other ties to the country. For more information, visit About Forbes: Forbes is an iconic global media brand that has symbolized success for over a century. Fueled by journalism that informs and inspires, Forbes spotlights the doers and doings shaping industries, achieving success and making an impact on the world. Forbes connects and convenes the most influential communities ranging from billionaires, business leaders and rising entrepreneurs to creators and innovators. The Forbes brand reaches more than 140 million people monthly worldwide through its trusted journalism, signature ForbesLive events and 49 licensed local editions in 81 countries. For media queries, please contact: Catherine Ong Associates Pte Ltd Catherine Ong, cell: +65 9697 0007, Email: cath@ Chenxi Wang, cell: +65 8187 3215, Email: chenxi@
Forbes
02-07-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Thailand's Chearavanont Brothers Lead Their CP Group Into A Digital Future
Dhanin Chearavanont, senior chairman, CP Group. Zhang Ling/Xinhua via Getty Images This story is part of Forbes' coverage of Thailand's Richest 2025. See the full list here . The Chearavanont brothers' agribusiness-to-telecoms conglomerate Charoen Pokphand Group (CP Group) has lately been on a digital and regional expansion drive. In June, its fintech arm Ascend Money secured approval to establish a virtual bank, which paves the way for the firm to leverage its digital platform TrueMoney, with its countrywide base of 34 million users. A month earlier, True IDC, the data center and cloud services arm of the group's telecoms giant True, teamed up with a BlackRock unit to invest $1 billion over the next three to five years to build data centers in Thailand, which is aspiring to become an ASEAN digital hub. After its 2023 merger with rival Total Access Communications, True is now the country's largest mobile operator with nearly 49 million subscribers. With an eye on regional expansion, CP Group will be setting up a $1 billion private equity fund with Philippine sovereign wealth fund Maharlika Investment Corp. to invest in agriculture, digital innovation and renewable energy in the Philippines. Over the past 12 months, the net worth of the Chearavanont brothers has gone up by $6.7 billion to $35.7 billion.
New York Times
13-04-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Near Bangkok, a Sprawling Forest Where Art Seems to Grow on Trees
Three times a day, a delicate fog drifts from nozzles hidden in flower beds and rolls down sloping hills and into a large clearing in the Khao Yai Art Forest. The white mist unfurls across the landscape like a wave, skimming the grass and enveloping the forest-edged valley, before fading into a thin layer of moisture. Fog is rare in this rural part of central Thailand, bordering Khao Yai National Park. But this work, 'Khao Yai Fog Forest, Fog Landscape #48435' (2024) — created by the Japanese artist, Fujiko Nakaya — transcends nature itself. To create the fog and choreograph its presence across the 10,000-square-foot site, Ms. Nakaya altered the landscape and collaborated with Aquaria, a San Francisco company whose technology harvests atmospheric moisture for clean, drinkable water. 'In Buddhist philosophy, water descends from the sky to heal and connect us with nature,' said Marisa Chearavanont, a Korean-born art patron and philanthropist who lives in Bangkok, in an interview at the Khao Yai Art Forest at dusk, as the forest fog surrounded us. 'This mist is like a spiritual cleansing experience.' In 2022, driven by a personal search for healing in nature after Thailand's Covid lockdown, Ms. Chearavanont, who is in her early 60s, bought the site, some 160 acres of flatlands and forested hills in Khao Yai, a weekend retreat for Bangkok residents about 100 miles northeast of the city. Once the essential infrastructure was built, the Khao Yai Art Forest opened in February 2025, with artworks integrated in the natural landscape for visitors to explore freely during opening hours (admission is 500 Thai baht, or $14.64). 'We invite artists to create site-specific works using materials they find locally, like water, wood, stones, soil and wind,' Ms. Chearavanont said. Amid the trees, a towering stone sculpture titled 'God' (2024) by the Italian artist Francesco Arena features two boulders sourced locally and stacked vertically. Fragments of 10 stupas titled 'Pilgrimage to Eternity' (2024) by the Thai artist who goes by the pseudonym Ubatsat, made from local soil and covered in some moss, are gradually being re-appropriated by nature. The Berlin duo Elmgreen & Dragset have created a working cocktail lounge titled 'K-Bar' (2024) dedicated to the hard-drinking German artist Martin Kippenberger, who died in 1997. Once a month at dusk, the small, well-lighted building — with bar stools and a collection of bottles — comes to life, and a bartender serves drinks to visitors. Standing watch in a rice field is a bronze version of the French artist Louise Bourgeois's 30-foot-high spider sculpture called 'Maman' (1999–2002), on loan from the Easton Foundation, which is dedicated to preserving Bourgeois's legacy. The rice field is part of the Art Forest's organic farming program, which aims to promote healing through food in partnership with the Chef Cares Foundation, which Ms. Chearavanont founded in the early days of the Covid pandemic. Initially focused on feeding frontline workers, the foundation now works to assist underprivileged communities, in part by providing culinary training to children in need. The emphasis on site-specific art, regenerative farming and Buddhist principles sets the Khao Yai Art Forest apart from other major outdoor art initiatives —such as Inhotim museum in Brumadinho, Brazil, set within a 140-hectare botanical garden; Château La Coste, in the Provence region of France; and Naoshima island in Japan. 'In our modern, virtual world, we need to touch the land and restore our connection with nature,' said Ms. Chearavanont, who is married to Soopakij Chearavanont, chairman of Charoen Pokphand Group, an agro-industrial conglomerate in Thailand. 'The idea behind the Art Forest was to bring communities together around art, help them reconnect with the land, feed them and restore the environment.' On a hilltop, 'Madrid Circle' (1986) by the British Land Art pioneer Richard Long features stones arranged in a circle, referencing his practice of walking as art. The work was part of a large batch that Ms. Chearavanont acquired from the estate of the Italian collector Giuseppe Panza in a sale facilitated by Stefano Rabolli Pansera, then a director at the gallery Hauser & Wirth. In 2022, Mr. Rabolli Pansera, an architect and curator, who has curated several national pavilions at the Venice Biennale, moved from St. Moritz, Switzerland, to Bangkok to steer Ms. Chearavanont's art programming as director. On advice of Mr. Rabolli Pansera, Ms. Chearavanont bought the Bangkok Kunsthalle in 2023, as an urban counterpart to the Art Forest. Located in the city's Chinatown, the nearly 65,000-square-foot Brutalist complex, which had been a fire-damaged printing house, comprises three connected buildings. As in the Art Forest where artists work with local materials, in the Kunsthalle, artists are invited to respond to the building's decayed state through art, film, music and architecture. 'We don't plan to restore the building,' Mr. Rabolli Pansera said in an interview at the Kunsthalle, where soot and traces of smoke were still visible on the walls. 'We invite artists to make interventions in the architecture itself. They can drill all the holes they want. Like the forest, the building is not a passive backdrop. It shapes the art and is part of the experience. This is land art 2.0.' Opened as an arts venue in 2024, the Kunsthalle regularly hosts exhibitions by local and international artists. In June, the Thai collective Yunglai will present a show reflecting on the building's history as a printing house. From Sept. 1 to Feb. 15, the show 'Description Without Place' will feature six inhabitation cells or 'Cellules d'Habitation,' tiny living pods created by the French Israeli artist Meir Eshel, who was known professionally as Absalon. 'We want our project to be attractive to artists and to show that we can produce new content and create new opportunities here,' Mr. Rabolli Pansera said. 'We also want to work with other global art institutions.' Next March, out at the Khao Yai Art Forest, the Colombian artist Delcy Morelos will unveil a site-specific installation near an excavated rock garden, following an introduction facilitated by the Dia Art Foundation, a New York-based nonprofit organization that initiates, supports and preserves art projects. 'We visited the Art Forest with Delcy after her show in New York, and she has now proposed an incredible project for the site,' said Jessica Morgan, director of the Dia Art Foundation in a phone interview from New York. 'We are also discussing showing works from our collection at the Bangkok Kunsthalle, our first exhibition in Thailand,' Ms. Morgan said. 'I plan to return with my curatorial team. Supporting artists together is key.' That collaboration represents a small part of a larger cultural transformation in Thailand, fueled by collectors and private investment. Dib Bangkok, the country's first major museum for international contemporary art, founded by the Thai businessman Purat Osathanugrah and housed in a warehouse transformed according to the Thai architect Kulapat Yantrasast's vision, is set to open in December. The Bangkok Art Biennale was first held in 2018, and it has since established itself on Southeast Asia's contemporary art calendar. The Access Bangkok Art Fair debuted last December. Ms. Chearavanont has already reshaped Thailand's cultural landscape. Her ambition is to position the country as a destination for contemporary art by attracting visitors and encouraging international artists to engage with its culture and environment. 'I am no longer collecting art, I am sharing art,' Ms. Chearavanont said. 'My vision is to put Thailand on the geopolitical map of the art world.'
Yahoo
04-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Thai court accepts invasive fish case against food giant
A Thai court on Tuesday accepted a class-action lawsuit filed by hundreds of fishermen seeking $73 million in damages from a agribusiness giant over invasive blackchin tilapia, a representative of the Thai lawyers' council said. The alien species, native to west Africa, has been found in 19 provinces in Thailand, damaging ecosystems in rivers, swamps and canals, and last year the government declared its eradication a national priority. As well as the ecological impact, authorities are concerned about the threat it poses to the Thai fish-farming industry, one of the country's most crucial sources of income. A Thai court agreed to hear the case against Charoen Pokphand (CP) on Tuesday, according to a member of the Lawyers Council of Thailand. "Today, a civil court in Bangkok accepted the case filed by fishing professionals in Samut Songkhram who have been affected by tilapia," Somchai Armeen, a senior environmental lawyer at the council who is responsible for the case, said on his Facebook account. The lawsuit, filed six months ago on behalf of more than 1,400 fishing professionals, accuses CP of introducing blackchin tilapia into Thailand by importing the species from Ghana in 2010, a statement from the council said. The group demanded 2.48 billion baht ($73 million) in compensation, it added. Charoen Pokphand is one of Thailand's largest conglomerates. Its founders, the Chearavanont brothers, are Thailand's second richest family, according to Forbes in 2024. The company has faced increasing scrutiny over monopolistic practices, particularly after its merger with Tesco in 2020. tak/pdw/mtp
