ForbesAsia-April2018

APRIL 2018 FORBES ASIA | 19

LUKE DUGGLEBY FOR FORBES

The pounding music stopped abruptly, and half a dozen young

executives bounded onstage at Bangkok’s Jam Factory, bathed in colored spotlights.

hese weren’t corporate suits. Instead, they were an eclectic bunch: apostles for indoor

farming and co-working spaces, entrepreneurs who ran hip hotels, and the founder

and chief of trendsetting magazine Monocle, Tyler Brûlé. A staid hailand property

developer, Sansiri, had suddenly invested $80 million in their companies in a move to

diversify its business, and this was their coming-out party last November.

Many onlookers seemed bemused; this was a quantum shit for a company that

had never made an outside investment or strayed from its bedrock of residential real

estate. So its new strategy was guaranteed to generate considerable buzz. “Disruption

is everywhere these days,” Chief Executive Apichart Chutrakul told Forbes Asia ater-

ward. “You have to change with the times.”

Still, it would be hard to ind another company in hailand that has so faithfully

followed the corporate dictum “Focus on what you do best.” Nobody knows this better

than Chutrakul, 57, who helped launch his family’s real estate company in 1984 and

has been at the helm through thick and thin—the 1994 merger with the property

division of the Lamsam family (which started Kasikornbank) and Sansiri’s stock list-

ing in 1996, followed by the devastating Asian inancial crisis of 1997. Even ater a

painful reorganization, Sansiri never wavered from its devotion to residential property

development.

hat commitment has kept Sansiri in the top tier of hailand’s big residential develop-

ers. Last year it launched 14 projects, valued at $1.1 billion, a 24% increase over 2016. It

looks to be even busier this year, with 3 1 projects in the pipeline, worth $2 billion. Accord-

ing to analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg, net proit is expected to top $102 million

this year, a 22.8% jump over 2017, on expected revenue of $979 million that would be 7.4%

higher than last year. Chutrakul owns at least a $1 3 million stake.

Sansiri’s success comes at a time when the industry is surging ahead despite ample

red lags. hailand’s economy has been battered in recent years by natural disasters

and political instability. A military government has ruled since a May 2014 coup, and

uncertainty intensiied ater the death of long-reigning King Bhumibol Adulyadej in

December 2016. Yet, as other sectors contracted, real estate has deied warnings from

analysts and continued to expand. Bangkok is awash in construction, with condomin-

iums, luxury malls and oce towers rising everywhere. Many projects boast not only

record-breaking price tags, but sizeable foreign investment.

One of the biggest Bangkok projects nearing completion is Icon Siam, a $1.7 bil-

lion riverside development that ranks among the biggest in hai history. It’s spear-

headed by another CEO named Chutrakul—his wife, Chadatip Chutrakul, head of

shopping-mall giant Siam Piwat. hey met three decades ago, ater he returned from

studying in the U.S., and have one daughter. “We don’t really talk about our work,” he

insists. He prefers leaving business at the oce, relaxing by watching a game of soccer;

he’s a longtime fan and player.

hey also don’t collaborate on projects. “Our businesses are diferent. Her busi-

Connect the bots: “Disruption is everywhere
these days. You have to change with the
times,” says CEO Apichart Chutrakul.