Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi – Thai Businessman and Investor

On a “deal-making spree”, Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi made some big changes in order to expand his empire at home and overseas. The liquor tycoon bought the Vietnamese part of the German cash-and-carry firm Metro for around $700 million.

To top this off, he also made a deal with France’s Casino Group for a large stake in the Big C Supercenter Thailand. Sirivadhanabhakdi also agreed to purchase another 25% of the hypermarket operator for around $1.4 billion from the Chirathivat clan.

Just last year, he purchased MHDV Holding through his Singapore-listed Frasers Centrepoint, which is a boutique hotel operator. However, his largest asset is still his controlling stake in Thai beverage, the maker of Chang beer.

He owns many business, from the Pantip Plaza mall in Bangkok to the Hotel Plaza Athenee in New York. Not to mention all the hotels in the United States, Asia and Australia, as well as, commercial, residential, and retail building in Singapore and Thailand.

Charoen worked very hard to get where he is today, as he was one of many children born to a poor street vendor of a Thai family. In fact, he left school at the young age of nine to work. Now Sirivadhanabhakdi is Thailand's second richest entrepreneur, with an estimated net worth of $13.5 billion dollars. He is also listed as the 94th billionaire in the world by Forbes.

The name Charoen can be either a feminine or masculine name in Thai. The feminine version of Charoen means “development”. Whereas, the masculine name Charoen means “to flourish”.