Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi adds 80 billion baht more to his fortune even before snapping up Starbucks Corp’s operations in the country. Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi’s net worth has risen to $13.4 billion mostly due to a 34% gain in Singapore-listed Thai Beverage Plc shares, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. A company affiliate is part of a venture buying out Starbucks’ Thai operations, a transaction that could value the business at more than $500 million. Buying Starbucks’ Thailand operations extends Mr Charoen’s strategy of taking his empire beyond beer and whiskey in Southeast Asia’s second-biggest economy. In 2017, Mr Charoen’s Thai Beverage bought more than 240 KFC restaurants in Thailand for about 11.3 billion baht ($355 million).

Source: Bangkok Post May 30, 2019 02:15 UTC