Thailand’s ‘five families’ poised to profit on the plague
Posted: Fri May 08, 2020 12:13 pm
Interesting analysis
BANGKOK – On a Covid-19 darkened alley, a 7-Eleven convenience store burns brightly in the night.
BANGKOK – On a Covid-19 darkened alley, a 7-Eleven convenience store burns brightly in the night.
Thailand’s coronavirus lockdown has shuttered all variety of businesses, but 7-Eleven, Family Mart and other modern franchised stores controlled and operated by major Thai conglomerates were allowed to keep the lights on as essential services, significantly while many traditional small entrepreneur-run shops were forced to go dark.
7-Eleven in Thailand is owned by the Charoen Pokphand (CP) Group, the nation’s leading conglomerate founded by the Chearavanont family, the kingdom’s wealthiest business clan. Family Mart is run by Thai retail giant the Central Group. Both, by all accounts, did brisk business while others were forcibly locked down for health reasons.
As Thailand loosens its lockdown, it’s not clear how many of its small and medium enterprises (SMEs) will ever re-emerge from the viral devastation. Thailand’s top “five family” conglomerates, on the other hand, are cashed up to seek opportunities in crisis across the nation’s now cash-starved and indebted corporate landscape, analysts say.
Those “five family” firms, namely the CP Group, ThaiBev, Central Group, King Power Group and Boonrawd, among others backed ex-coup maker, now elected Prime Minister Prayut Chan-ocha’s 2019 election campaign, support seen as payback for regulatory favors and concessions granted during his 2014-19 coup regime.
https://asiatimes.com/2020/05/thailands ... d7ff190aa4.....Many Thais associate “big five” businesses with convenience, modernity and, indeed, even “Thainess.” Their various enterprises are woven deeply into the national fabric. But the “five families’” domination of the Thai economy will likely never have been more visibly apparent than in the consolidation to come after the plague.