Charoen Pokphand - History

History

Charoen Pokphand traces its beginnings back to 1921, when the immigrant Chinese brothers Ek Chor (谢易初) and Siew Whooy (谢少飞) started a seed store named Chia Tai Chueng in Bangkok's Chinatown during the reign of King Rama VI. They imported seeds and vegetables from China and exported pigs and eggs to Hong Kong.

The company increased its scope from selling vegetable seeds under the trademark of ‘Rua Bin’ (Aero plane) to production of animal feed under Ek Chor’s two elder sons, Jaran Chiaravanont and Montri Jiaravanont. The company further integrated its business to include livestock farming, marketing and distribution, under Dhanin Chearavanont. By the 1970s the company had a virtual monopoly on the supply of chicken and eggs in Thailand.

The company was famous for vertical integration expanding into several business lines, adding breeding farms, slaughterhouses, processed foods production, and, later, its own chain of restaurants. CP had also gone international, launching feedmill operations in Indonesia in 1972, exporting chickens to Japan in 1973, then moving into Singapore in 1976.

In the 1980s, as China opened up to foreign firms, the firm became the preferred partner for international brands such as Honda, Wal Mart, and Tesco. CP's family ties with the mainland enabled it to become the first foreign company to establish itself in the newly created Shenzhen free trade zone, where the company set up its Chia Tai Co. (Chinese: 正大集团; pinyin: Zhèngdà Jítuán) subsidiary. By the early 1990s, CP had launched some 200 subsidiaries in China. CP's massive investment in poultry production on the mainland was credited with changing the country's dietary habits, as per-capita consumption more than doubled by the end of the decade.

In 1989, CP joined with Solvay of Belgium to launch Vinythai Co., a manufacturer of polyvinylchloride. The following year, the company formed a partnership with the U.S. telecommunications firm of NYNEX to launch TelecomAsia (TA) and began construction of its own fiber-optic telephone network.

Starting at 1993 many subsidiaries went public. TA, Charoen Pokphand Feedmill, Siam Makro and Vinythai were listed publicly at the Stock Exchange of Thailand, as well as its Hong Kong subsidiary, CP Pokphand to the Hong Kong exchange, a Shanghai-based animal feed and poultry group to the Shanghai exchange, a real estate development arm, Hong Kong Fortune, to the Hong Kong exchange, and Ek Chor China Motorcycle to the New York exchange.

After the Asian financial crisis in 1997, C.P. consolidated into three business lines under its main “brand names”: foods (C.P. Foods), retail (7-Eleven), and telecommunications (True). The company sold its stakes in the Tesco Lotus venture with Tesco in 2003 due to its crisis policy in order to focus on 7-Eleven, in which, unlike Tesco, CP owns a majority, as its flagship retail arm. However, the company kept its shares in Tesco Lotus outlets in China.