How rich is the Thai billionaire who bought Metro Vietnam?

Thai billionaire Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi - the new owner of the Metro supermarket chain in Vietnam - is currently one of the three richest people in Thailand.

Billionaire Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi (right) and his son, Thapana - currently CEO of Thaibev.

German retail group Metro AG has officially announced the completion of the transfer of Metro Vietnam to Thailand's TCC Holdings Group. The value of this deal was revealed by Metro to be up to 655 million EUR, equivalent to about 710 million USD.USDat the moment. The payment has been processed.

Thailand's second richest man

TCC is one of Thailand's leading investment groups owned by billionaire Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi. TCC Holdings plays the role of major shareholder in many companies controlled by billionaire Charoen such as Berli Jucker, TCC Land, ThaiBev, Fraser & Neave...

According to Forbes magazine, Thai businessman Charoen (71 years old) is currently one of the three richest people in Thailand with assets worth more than 13.1 billion USD as of June 2015.

Charoen is the sixth child in a family of 11 Chinese street vendors. Despite receiving many honorary doctorates from universities and institutes, Charoen himself had to drop out of school in the 9th grade to find a living.

At the age of 70, he is still the executive chairman of many large companies and corporations around the world. Charoen also owns many valuable real estate properties such as Pantip Plaza in Bangkok (Thailand), Plaza Athenee Hotel in Manhattan (USA), and a series of other famous hotel and restaurant chains in the US, Australia and Asia.

This billionaire started his career as an alcoholic beverage manufacturer. In 1995, billionaire Charoen officially founded ThaiBev with the famous Chang beer brand. After only 5 years of entering the market, Chang accounted for 60% of the Thai market share.

In addition to ThaiBev operating in the beverage sector, billionaire Charoen also has two big names: Berli Jucker operating in multiple sectors (beverages, can and glass bottle production, retail, convenience stores...) and TCC Land operating in the real estate sector.

Charoen has five children. Currently, his son, Thapana Sirivadhanabhakdi is the CEO of ThaiBev, his daughter Wallapa is the CEO of TTC Land. His youngest son, Panote Sirivadhanabhakdi is a member of the board of directors of F&N.

Special attention to the Vietnamese market

Entering Vietnam in 1993, through investments here, it can be seen that billionaire Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi is paying special attention to the domestic market.

BJC - the partner that negotiated to buy Metro Vietnam - previously bought 65% of the shares of Phu Thai Group - a large enterprise in the field of consumer goods distribution. In 2013, BJC bought the shares of its Japanese partner in the Family Mart convenience store chain and renamed it B'smart with a total of 94 stores nationwide.

Previously, BJC had been around for quite a while and was operating in the field of manufacturing glass bottles and beverage cans in Vietnam. BJC also had a Cellox toilet paper factory and an ICHIBAN tofu production line.

Billionaire Charoen’s group, through its subsidiary TTC Land, also owns the Melia Hanoi Hotel. In the past few years, Melia has consistently achieved revenue of over 20 million USD and pre-tax profit of about 10 million USD.

Notably, not only does the Thai billionaire own two Melia hotel towers, he also owns two other hotels in Hanoi, Fraser Suites, and the Melinh Point Tower office building in Ho Chi Minh City.

Last year, Thaibev, a subsidiary of BJC, also expressed its intention to buy back shares (expected to be 53%) at Saigon Beer (Sabeco) when the company implemented its equitization plan.

In addition, Fraser & Neave (F&N) is currently the largest foreign shareholder and strategic partner, owning 11% of Vinamilk's shares - equivalent toshareworth over 750 million USD. Recently, after SCIC announced its plan to divest all 45% of its shares in Vinamilk, F&N was considered one of the potential candidates. The media once reported that F&N had sent an offer to buy Vinamilk shares, but F&N denied this information immediately afterwards.

According to Dan Tri