The Horungruang family was a big name in Thai steel before losing its business empire in the financial crisis of 1997. A 200-billion-baht fortune shrank suddenly after the government of the time dropped the currency peg and introduced a floating exchange rate.
The Horungruangs started out as an ordinary Chinese family, moving from Guangdong to Thailand in search of better opportunities. No one foresaw such a massive crisis, with financial institutions collapsing and companies laying off workers. The family members decided to sell all steel business units and make a clean break with the past.
Except for Pravit Horungruang. He returned to the steel business in 2015 -- but as a managerial employee, not as an owner. Now he's the recently appointed president and chief executive of SET-listed Millcon Steel Plc, effective since March.
"I have my mission to administrate and mobilise the steel business to ensure sustainable growth in the future with the adoption of innovation and technology to improve steel manufacturing," Mr Pravit says. "My past experience and knowledge include lessons learned, and my bankruptcy background will not be relevant to my management at Millcon."
Nightmare crisis
Mr Pravit, 54, is the family's third generation. He has 32 years of experience in the steel industry.
"I started in my early 20s with the family," he says. "Earlier, I worked at a foreign company as a salesman, but it was for a short period."
The Horungruang family founded its first steel firm, Krungthai Steel Works Co, in 1957 under the management of Sawasdi Horungruang, the second generation. Mr Sawasdi is Mr Pravit's uncle, the younger brother of Mr Pravit's father.
Krungthai Steel Works ran a lathe machine for shaping metals in Samut Prakan. Mr Sawasdi later launched a second steel firm, Nakhon Thai Steel Works Co, to make steel bars for the construction sector.
"I started as a technical man at Krungthai Steel Works," Mr Pravit says. "I had to carry a notebook and a pen every morning to learn about the steel process through the finished product with my colleagues.
"I felt blank and had no idea about the steel business, so I could not understand at all. Then my uncle sent me to stay at the factory for a month to learn everything."
His routine at the steel factory taught him new things about the production line and business management. Meanwhile, the Horungruang family expanded its steel empire with roughly 100 companies during the 40 years to 1997.
Then the nightmare of the financial crisis struck, leaving Krungthai Steel Works and Nakhon Thai Steel Works bankrupt, along with Mr Sawasdi and Mr Pravit.
"I heard a news report on TV the morning of July 2, 1997 that the central bank and the government announced the floating exchange rate, and I was shocked," Mr Pravit says. "When I arrived at the office, all the executives called in employees for brainstorming on how to survive the crisis.
"As top executives, we couldn't pay debts to creditors and financial institutions because the debt's value grew larger from the floating exchange rate. As everyone knew, we tried to negotiate with them and pay the debts when we could afford it."
His uncle used to have a memorable quote: "I don't have it, I won't run away, and I won't pay it."
"I also adhered to that quote during the company's crisis," Mr Pravit says. "My debts were 50% of my uncle's, while our customers cancelled most purchase orders."
In May 2009, the Central Bankruptcy Court ruled that Mr Pravit was bankrupt and his assets were seized for debt repayment.
During the ordeal of the Horungruang family, he learned that "you have to prepare for Plan B and an exit option in every situation of your life and business, since your decisions will never be 100% correct".
Never give up
After the financial crisis, Mr Pravit became a low-profile figure in the steel industry. His uncle, Mr Sawasdi, entered the political arena in 2001 as a representative of the Chart Thai Party and was later banned from politics for five years after the party's dissolution.
Many of the family's 100 steel firms were sold and dissolved after the crisis: SET-listed Tata Steel Thailand Plc acquired NTS Steel Group Plc, and SET-listed G Steel Plc acquired Nakornthai Strip Mill Plc.
The steel empire of the Horungruang family had collapsed and its golden era was well and truly over.
Mr Pravit, meanwhile, was dismissed from bankruptcy status in 2014. "It was a huge pain in my heart that I encountered," he says. "I started a new chapter when I sold my steel company, Suntech Metals Co, to Millcon in 2015." He became a Millcon executive shortly thereafter.
"I am sincere in running a business and can draw on my failures and background," Mr Pravit says. "My mindset of management is sincere, honest and respectful." When those three keys are taken to heart in managing every aspect of the company, they build trust among colleagues and employees, he says.
Now installed in the top post at Millcon, Mr Pravit says the steel business needs to expand from commodity-grade products and into premium steel to be more competitive.
"Thailand will spend on many megaprojects for the flagship Eastern Economic Corridor and infrastructure projects across the country, so the Thai construction sector is demanding the specialty steel that Millcon wants to provide," he says.
Millcon plans to increase production capacity for premium-grade steel from 84,000 tonnes a year now to 240,000 tonnes annually in the next two years.
"We are trying to escape the aggressive competition in the global steel market, and the premium products for wire rod steel have higher value and margins compared with the commodity-grade ones," Mr Pravit says.
In 2019, Millcon expects a 10% rise in total revenue from 21.75 billion baht the year before.