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Thailand
This Week in AsiaPolitics

Who will be Thailand’s next prime minister? Billionaire Dhanin Chearavanont of CP Group might have an idea

  • The mogul sparked speculation over his political ambitions after his resignation from the chairmanship of one of the conglomerate’s key businesses
  • Should he become premier or a senator, he will also have to give up his positions at various parts of Thailand’s largest private company

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Dhanin Chearavanont, the former chairman of CP Food. Photo: Reuters
Jitsiree Thongnoi

Dhanin Chearavanont has spent six decades building the Charoen Pokphand Group (CP) into a global empire spanning everything from agriculture and food to telecommunications and e-commerce – not to mention property development, automobiles, and finance – but he may have even greater ambitions in the political arena.

Since his abrupt resignation last month as chairman of CP Foods, the conglomerate’s core business, speculation in Thailand has been rife that Dhanin will either be named as a senator – or as the kingdom’s prime minister.

The billionaire – commonly referred to as “Chao Sua”, a name Thais use for business moguls of Chinese descent – is known for his expansion of the near-century-old conglomerate to a scale reminiscent of Korean chaebol or Japanese zaibatsu. Dhanin and his three brothers control 51 per cent of CP’s shares.

Dhanin stepped down on April 24, just days after his 80th birthday, citing “other duties” that kept him from remaining in the position. To people familiar with the company, his resignation was long overdue.

“He has said many times that by the time he was 60 or 65, it is time for the next generation to replace him,” said Anusorn Tamajai, board member of energy conglomerate Bangchak Bioethanol and Dhanin’s former assistant.

Still, his departure took the public and the media by surprise, prompting speculation that Dhanin, who remains senior chairman of CP Group, was venturing into politics. The unclear outcome of Thailand’s March 24 election has left the kingdom – which has been under military control since a 2014 coup – mired in political uncertainty.
Even though the Chearavanont clan has never publicly pronounced their political affiliations, two theories have been prevalent in local media: either Dhanin will be named prime minister in a coalition government should an elected cabinet fail to take shape, or he might be named one of the 250 senators hand-picked by the ruling junta who have the power to vote for a prime minister.
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