'China is not the only target. CP [Charoen Pokphand] has a global perspective. The most talented people in the world belong to CP. Global materials belong to CP. All the financial resources in the world belong to CP. It depends on our ability, whether we can bring in the money for business. I have a global perspective. Not only Thailand and China are on my mind. If a chance exists anywhere, it will belong to CP."
So declared Dhanin Chearavanont, chairman of CP Group and the richest man in Southeast Asia (with total assets of US$14.3 billion). The 74-year-old tells Forbes Thailand he is semi-retired.
Like other Thai businesses, CP in 1997 faced difficult straits during the financial crisis. The group had to allow the British retailer Tesco to enter a venture with its Lotus Supercenter, and it sold back its shares in the wholesale distributor Makro to the Dutch parent firm, dropping its stake from 30% to 13.4%. This past April, CP engineered the country's biggest takeover ever, buying back Makro in a deal worth nearly 189 billion baht.
Today, three out of four key subsidiaries of CP trade on the Stock Exchange of Thailand. The group has 127 subsidiaries worldwide with total assets of $33 billion.
In China alone, CP's assets were worth $9 billion at the end of 2012. Just a few months before the Makro deal, the group acquired a 15.57% stake in China's Ping An Insurance from HSBC at a cost of $9.38 billion.
CP began in farm products, still the core business, but other spheres now include telecom and media under True Corporation.
Mr Dhanin says CP operates in two main areas: food for the brain and food for the body. Its future strategy is developing logistics and e-commerce facilities and building more distribution centres to deliver its goods. The electronic platform will play a greater role in the future.
"True will be our key arm in developing and leading all the businesses of CP into e-commerce. We don't need to go to the shopping mall anymore; we build the shopping mall in the cloud, consumers can buy goods and services in the cloud."
He hasn't discussed his full retirement plan yet, but he reveals plans to transfer his empire to his three sons: the eldest, Supakit, who oversees CP's businesses in China, will be chairman of CP Group; middle son Narong, who heads the retail business in China, will become vice-chairman and chairman of the group's retail business; and the youngest, Supachai, the chief executive of True Corporation, will become CEO of CP Group.
Mr Dhanin is resting and improving his physical health so he can work longer. Each family member must go out and establish businesses individually. He reserves top jobs for talented outsiders in his empire. He remains coy about his time of retirement.
Read the full interview with Dhanin Chearavanont in Forbes Thailand.